Shattered
by Verowak
Summary: Sakura grows up a different person when everyone she loves keeps dying. Despite a debilitating injury, she becomes a protector of her village and will do anything to save her friends and family. Warning: Character deaths, rated M for future developements.
1. Chapter 1

Haruno Sakura felt on top of the world. It was an exceptionally warm day for March and she had just turned six years old. This meant that her parents would finally allow her to attend the shinobi Academy with her only friend, Yamanaka Ino. Her civilian parents were reluctant to enroll their only daughter, because they worried about her having such a dangerous profession. They kept hoping that she would grow out of her shinobi phase and lead a civilian life like the rest of the Haruno family.

Her parents, Mebuki and Kizashi, were well known merchants who travelled all across the shinobi nations, with primary points of contact in Suna and Kiri; from which they imported herbs, both medicinal and poisonous, and silk. Despite the fact that they owned a house in Konoha, they spent the majority of their time outside of the village, searching for the best deals and herbs across the nations. Sakura sometimes travelled with her parents, but more often than not, she stayed in town with her aunt, Natsuko, and uncle, Hiroki.

Hiroki was Kizashi's younger brother and he was the first Haruno shinobi. He had shoulder length light blonde hair, which he typically tied into a short ponytail, and light brown eyes. His muscles were not very defined despite the fact he was a shinobi, seeing as he was a paper nin. Though he had a scar beneath his right ear that ran down his neck until his collarbone, he was a handsome man, and noticeably taller than the rest of his family. Most members of the Haruno family measured between 175 -180cm, but Hiroki was an exception; as he measured a head taller than everyone else. In contrast it seemed comical that he married his genin teammate, Natsuko, who was a head shorter than the Haruno family. What Natsuko lacked in height, she made up in speed and beauty. She had the lithe body of a ballerina and somehow managed to retain most of her feminine curves. She had dark brown hair that reached the middle of her back and dark brown eyes that always held a glimmer of happiness. Natsuko came from a small family of shinobi. Her family was not big or prominent enough to be a clan, but they were loyal shinobi nonetheless.

Natsuko and Hiroki both became Chunin the third time they participated in the Chunin exams. In all three exams, they both struggled during their 1v1 matches; it was by sheer luck they were matched up against each other during the third exam and the only reason they got promoted - had they had to face any other genin, they would have lost very quickly since they were both weak physically. Despite being weak, they were still able to complete C rank missions with B rank missions being a very rare occurrence. Their most common workplaces were the Hokage Tower as assistants, the library as clerks and the front gates as gate guards.

Natsuko was a sensor and occasionally worked as a messenger, contacting the shinobi summoned by the Hokage. Hiroki, on the other hand, was knowledgeable about poisons. He occasionally worked for the intelligence department and crafted poisons for ANBU to use.

Natsuko and Hiroki had a son, Takeshi, who had no interest in becoming a shinobi and was instead interested in a life as a civilian. As such, he spent most of his time travelling with Kizashi and Mebuki, while Sakura spent most of her time with Hiroki and Natsuko.

Seeing as her parents were out of town, Sakura was spending her birthday with her aunt and uncle. All she wanted for her sixth birthday was to spend it as shinobi spend their days on a mission; travelling through the forest, hunting their food and camping for the night. Sakura was so excited and determined to learn more about the shinobi life and her aunt and uncle were more than happy to give that to her for her birthday.

Having spent the night camping and having caught rabbits for breakfast for her aunt and uncle in the morning, Sakura was slowly becoming a shinobi in her own eyes. Her clothes were covered in dirt and she sported a few scratches - the rabbits were quite skilled in evasion techniques - but in the end, Sakura had outsmarted two adult rabbits and proudly dragged them back to camp. Although she still wasn't comfortable killing an animal, she vowed to improve and be able to kill her catch next time she went camping with Natsuko and Hiroki; as she was confident they would bring her again.

After everything was packed up, the trio started their day long journey back to Konoha through the dense forest. Sakura walked a few steps ahead of her aunt and uncle, occasionally skipping and letting the air run through her long, pink hair. For this excursion, she had decided to not wear her typical red dress and opted for a dark blue short sleeve shirt with a light grey jacket and black shinobi pants that Natsuko had given her specifically for this trip. Sakura also brought along a satchel in which she kept a few kunai and shuriken - reluctantly given to her by her parents before they left for Suna earlier that week. She wasn't going to use them - they were sharp, and she had never practiced with them before - but they helped make her day as a shinobi more realistic.

"Sakura-chan, don't wander too far ahead, we need to stay in formation." Hiroki reminded Sakura teasingly. The child quickly turned around and ran back to her uncle, hugging one of her birthday presents - a book about chakra theory and exercises given to her by Natsuko - tightly to her chest.

"Hai taichou!" Sakura replied while grinning, sliding in between her aunt and uncle, keeping pace with them. Natsuko chuckled and brought her hand up to ruffle Sakura's hair playfully, which only served to widen the girl's grin. Even though most little girls wouldn't want their hair tangled, Natsuko knew Sakura loved getting her hair ruffled, as it represented closeness and caring in her eyes, something only people who care deeply about each other would do.

Sakura listened intently to the noises in the forest, trying to hear any sounds or sense any chakra from her surroundings; she was always on guard. Natsuko had been teaching her how to sense chakra since Sakura first showed interest in becoming a shinobi at the age of 4 years old, which, at the time, had made the little girl jump for joy. Sakura was finally getting the hang of it and was able to sense her aunt's, her uncle's and even Ino's chakra when they were within a few blocks of her. It took some time for Sakura to decipher and memorize a person's chakra signature, but when she managed to remember it, there was no way she would forget it. To her, a chakra signature was something she could not forget even if she tried, she knew those three signatures just as well as her own; they were forever engraved into the depths of her being.

"Rule #25?" Hiroki asked out of the blue.

"A shinobi must never show their tears…" Sakura quickly replied, glancing up at her uncle. Hiroki looked at Sakura fondly with a smile, raising one eyebrow in anticipation.

"Unless surrounded by people who love you." She added, with a smile, and reached for Hiroki's hand to give it a squeeze, to which Hiroki knelt down and kissed Sakura's forehead. Hiroki and Natsuko both believed that all the shinobi rules had exceptions and they were determined to show Sakura that shinobi didn't have to kill their emotions to be useful. The Harunos were emotionally expressive; they didn't shy away from giving hugs and kisses. In fact, Sakura was encouraged to express her gratitude either with a hug or a kiss to the cheek or to the forehead. Hiroki and Natsuko both also believed in teamwork and being there for and supporting those precious to you, an attitude that was ingrained in Konoha shinobi, giving the other nations the impression that Konoha was too soft.

"Rule #4?" Natsuko prompted.

"A shinobi must always put the mission first… unless a friend is in danger." Sakura stated with a weak smile.

Thinking about that rule always reminded her of the story that her aunt and uncle had told her about the legendary White Fang who chose to save his comrades instead of completing his mission and was consequently dishonoured by the shinobi of the village, even the comrades he saved. Thinking about that story angered Sakura; she didn't understand how anyone could hold a grudge on someone who saved their lives, especially if they were comrades or friends. The first time Sakura heard the story of the White Fang, she vowed to treat her friends - when she would actually have some - so well that they would never feel unwanted. Her heart quickened at the thought of having friends to be with and to go to the park with, instead of having bullies laugh at her and hurt her because of her larger than average forehead.

"Rule 13?" Hiroki continued.

"A shinobi must prepare before it's too late… Which means, I should learn how to make poisons right?" Sakura asked as she loosened her grip on Hiroki's hand, and tugged his arm while putting on her best puppy eyes.

Kizashi had protested and forbade Hiroki from teaching Sakura about poisons when she first showed interest in a shinobi life, because one wrong ingredient or one wrong step could spell disaster. Despite this, Hiroki knew that Sakura was a lot more mature and prudent than the genin twice her age, which is why he had already wrapped an introductory book on poisonous herbs on her bed for her to find when they arrived home later that day. Hiroki kept telling himself that he was giving the cook to her since it would be a useful book for her shinobi career, but deep down, he just wanted to spoil her as much as possible, and any excuse was a valid one in his mind.

Natsuko had already promised Sakura that they would bring her to the library once she finished her book about chakra, and maybe even, at some point, they would let her read the various books and scrolls in the genin and chunin sections. A free pass at reading to her heart's content was all Sakura could ever ask for. Hiroki knew they were spoiling the girl, but to them, they were finally able to pass on their knowledge and specialties to someone and they were going to make sure she excelled in the few things they could teach her. Had Takeshi been interested in being a shinobi, they would have taught them both, however, Takeshi was solely interested in being a merchant, and spent his years shadowing Kizashi and Mebuki. Hiroki wasn't fooling himself, it felt like Sakura was his own child and Takeshi was his nephew, though Sakura would always remain her daddy's girl.

"Hmmm… how about I make you a deal Sakura-chan?" Sakura's eyes filled with hope and excitement at Hiroki's suggestion. "Once you learn how to suppress your chakra - it doesn't have to be undetectable, but at least suppress half of your chakra- I'll start teaching you how to make poisons." Hiroki tried his best to stifle his laughter at the girl's expression. He could see her mentally planning the quickest and most efficient way for her to mask her chakra so that she could be taught about poisons. She was just so adorable when she was determined to learn something new.

"Suppress my chakra… that should be… page 87" Sakura thought out loud, opening her birthday present and flipping through the pages. Even though she had only just received her present that morning, she had memorized the table of contents to ensure she could quickly reference the book when required. If you asked Sakura, her intelligence was average - she only had herself to compare to, so she fell well within the norm - but if you asked Ino, Sakura was sometimes too smart for her age. She analyzed and planned everything, even when going to the park.

Ever since Sakura started going to the park, she was bullied because of her larger than average forehead and her pink hair. The kids at the park - mostly girls but lately, boys joined the group - physically, and emotionally harmed her as often as possible. Because of the bullies, Sakura tried to plan her visits to the park to avoid a confrontation, though it wasn't always successful, and she came home with cuts and bruises more often than not.

Natsuko's shoulders stiffened suddenly as she quickly turned her head to look east, her brown hair whipping around her shoulders. There were two very strong chakras - possibly A rank, though most likely S rank - heading towards them, quickly. She turned her gaze to Hiroki who had been watching her intently since the stiffening of her shoulders; he knew her enough to know something bad was coming their way.

"S" Natsuko whispered above Sakura's head, trying to not distract the girl from her reading, and held up two fingers. Hiroki's eyes widened and his face paled considerably - they had to leave stat!.

"Say Sakura-chan," Hiroki's voice cracked and trembled, "did you want to fly through the trees for a while?" He managed to smile as he crouched down, though it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Sakura squealed, closing her big book of chakra and handing it to Hiroki to hold while she climbed onto his back, excited for the upĉoming adventure. Sakura loved the feeling of dashing through the trees with the wind in her hair and on her face - it made her feel alive.

"Hold on tight!" Hiroki hurried and ran forward, Natsuko keeping pace with him. He glanced occasionally at his wife, hoping for good news, but the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach only worsened as Natsuko's expression grew more and more grim each time he saw her.

They had been running at full tilt for 20 minutes, but Natsuko didn't think they would be able to outrun their possible pursuers, given the immense skill gap. Although they were a 3h run away from Konoha, it was possible that ANBU patrols would find them in time. This was their only hope of survival, unless they got really lucky and the foreign ninjas would simply ignore them and continue on their way.

Suddenly, Natsuko couldn't sense the 2 chakra signatures anymore, and didn't know if it was a good sign or very bad one.

"Hiro-kun...I can't sense them anymore…"

Hiroki's heartbeat sped up - in fear or relief, he wasn't sure - and could only think of one way to proceed. "Take Sakura and run back quickly, I can try to distract them in case they're coming towards us."

Sakura was not stupid, she knew something terrible was about to happen. She didn't want to leave her uncle behind, but being the child, she wasn't given a choice. Natsuko hesitated for a second, and with tears threatening to fall, she helped Sakura get up on her back and kissed Hiroki one last time. Hiroki gave Sakura one last kiss on her forehead and gave her a quick hug, before motioning for Natsuko to get going.

Natsuko took off quickly and managed a few leaps off the tree branches when a hand attached to tendrils latched onto her throat out of nowhere, slamming her into a tree. Unfortunately, Sakura took the brunt of the impact and it felt like was being crushed, feeling her bones crack throughout her body. Sakura had never felt so much pain in her life and hoped that she would never have to go through something similar again. She had gotten used to being beat up by the bullies at the playground, but none of those incidents compared to what she was feeling at the moment. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, and it even hurt to think. She let out choked screams until her throat felt like sandpaper.

She felt her aunt be pulled away from her, causing Sakura to fall from a great distance - at least as high as the village gates - to the ground, onto her right ankle. She heard a loud crack and felt her left ankle roll over under her weight, causing pain to shoot up her leg. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes, but she kept silent, as she watched her aunt get slammed onto the ground by a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds and a scratched out forehead protector from Takigakure. The man looked like a living demon, with his green irises and red sclerae. He had tendrils coming out of his body and his mouth. Sakura never knew she could have nightmares while still awake - there was no way this was happening - it was just too much for her to comprehend since they should be safe in Fire Country, so close to Konoha.

Sakura took a sudden step forward on her broken ankle and immediately passed out from the pain. She woke up face first on the grass, her body hurting, not knowing how much time had passed, but one thing she knew for certain; her aunt was not faring well. In fact, Sakura didn't think her aunt had been able to land a single hit on her attacker despite her speed.

A noise alerted Sakura to look behind her and she managed to turn around to see her uncle bleeding from multiple large cuts on his legs and arms. Hiroki slowly walked towards the demon and Sakura's struggling aunt and all the little girl wanted to do was scream - scream at her uncle to stop and run away, hoping that maybe he could run far enough away from the demon - but as Sakura opened her mouth, a man appeared behind her uncle, and kicked Hiroki's legs out from under him.

The man was a head taller than her uncle - how that was possible was beyond Sakura, her uncle was already the tallest in the family and stood out the few times she saw the shinobi of Konoha assembled - and was wearing the black cloak with red clouds just like the demon was. He had short brown hair with pale blue eyes and a scar running from the right side of his forehead, just below his scratched out forehead protector, across his nose and to the lower left of his jawline. He wielded a plain grey kusarigama - holding the sickle in one hand and letting the iron weight drag onto the floor - that dripped with her uncle's blood which made Sakura sick to her stomach. His face was expressionless, even as he slashed at Hiroki's chest, which made him seem inhuman - a good match for his demonic partner Sakura thought.

The blue eyed man dragged Hiroki towards a tree trunk not far from his demonic partner and tied him to the base of the tree in order for Hiroki to watch what they would do to his wife. He looked over at Sakura as he tied her uncle to the tree and it felt like he was hypnotizing her, forcing her to look him square in the eyes.

"If he loses too much blood, his heart won't be of any use to me. You better hope that's not the case or I'll kill you, you worthless piece of shit." The tendril man said to his partner, who didn't seem to care that he was just threatened. He simply finished tying up Hiroki and walked over to Natsuko.

"I want her before you take her heart" stated the pale eyed man calmly, which only served to make the other laugh.

"Not happening, we need to be quick about this and leave, too many chances to get caught." At this, Sakura felt a glimmer of hope in her chest - they could still survive if other shinobi found them and interrupted the missing nins - but all she could do was sit there trembling, waiting, and hope the two red clouds forgot about her.

"Fine, then I'll take the pink haired little girl. I think she'll be the youngest I've ever had." The man stared at Sakura and began to walk towards her as she tried to crawl towards her uncle, not paying attention to the demon and his partner.

A scream - the worst sound Sakura had ever heard in her life - rang through the forest, and Sakura's eyes snapped to her aunt as tendrils dug into her Natsuko's chest and blood flowed freely out of her body. The demon stood between her aunt and uncle as tendrils reached for Hiroki's chest. Sakura struggled to stand up, but she hurt all over and her body wasn't responding to her demands, so she was forced to sit there and watch as tendrils burrowed into both of her relatives' chests. She tried to cover her ears to at least dampen the screams coming from both her aunt and uncle, but she couldn't drown much of it out at all. She couldn't stop the sobs as they escaped her.

The blue eyed man stepped into Sakura's line of sight, a short distance from her, and slowly took out five kunai and some senbon which, caught Sakura's eye. He threw a kunai at Sakura's feet to make sure he had her attention. "It's just you and me baby doll, so let's have a little fun, shall we? The more you can dodge, the less I'll hurt you later, seems fair don't you think?" the man stated as he smirked at her. There was a look in his eyes that Sakura had never seen directed at her before. She had seen others express that emotion when seeing their favorite food after a long day. It was the first emotion this man expressed and it terrified Sakura.

In a sobering flash, Sakura felt a rush of pain as a kunai sliced through her left arm and left a 4 inch long, deep cut across her bicep. Sakura yelled and cried as pain invaded her body once again. _How can I dodge if I can't even see him throw anything_ she thought. She managed to stand up on her two shaky legs and hopped - using her only functional one - away from her enemy but felt a senbon prick her in the back of her left thigh, losing all feeling in that leg. She reached out, hoping to find anything to stabilize herself but only managed to scrape her hands on the bark of a tree before clumsily falling face first in the grass.

Breathing in big gulps of air, Sakura noticed that her aunt's screams had stopped, and only her uncle's pained screams could be heard now. She had managed to tilt her head and see that the demon was now solely focused on her uncle and what looked to be a human heart in one of his hands. Sakura felt her stomach turn and she threw up on the grass beside her. _Where are the ANBU?! Why has nobody found us yet?_ Sakura screamed in her head as she hyperventilated and was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she would die very soon.

 _Thud. Thud. Thud._

Three kunai embedded themselves in Sakura's body - one in her left hand, one in the back of her right knee and one deep in her left shoulder - as she laid her head on the ground and welcomed death as long as it stopped the pain. Sakura's throat was now raw from screaming, so she decided that she would quietly wait for death while thinking of all the good memories she had made in her short life.

"Ikuro, we're leaving." the demon stated as he appeared in front of Sakura and his partner, whilst holding onto 2 hearts. Sakura managed to lift her head and look at her uncle's dead body, still tied to the tree not far from her aunt's body. Tears welled up in her eyes, and fell freely down her face; she had just lost the two most precious people in the world to her and had to watch them get brutally murdered in a living nightmare.

"Then leave Kakuzu!" Ikuro snarled at his partner without shifting his gaze from the pinkette "I'll meet you back at the base later." At this, Kakuzu shot a glance to the forest from which they came and stiffened. He looked back at Ikuro and nodded, then quickly rushed into the forest, continuing on their original path.

The blue eyed man stood next to Sakura, frowning at the fact the her face was turned to the grass which meant that he couldn't see her pained expression. He knelt down beside Sakura, took out his kusarigama and whispered into her ear "You didn't dodge very well baby doll, I guess I'll have to punish you a little bit huh?"

Sakura felt his hand grip the back of her neck pinning her in place as he slowly and painfully dragged his sickle from just above her right shoulder blade all the way down the right side of her body, leaving a one inch deep cut from her shoulder blade down to her ankle. Sakura screamed out from the pain as the man stood up and admired his work and the bloodbath he was causing with a knowing grin. Sakura struggled to crawl away from the man, but he kicked her on her the side and then rolled her onto her back, the kunai and senbon digging deeper into her body.

Black spots slowly clouded Sakura's vision as a result of her blood loss from her latest injury - her right side bled profusely, staining the grass red. Her end was coming closer and closer as she stared up at the pale eyed man who looked longingly at her.

"You're just making it harder for yourself you know, trying to escape all the time" He said, while swinging the iron weight of his kusarigama around "guess there's one way to make sure you won't try to squirm anymore… now which leg?" he pondered, as he stared down at her expressionlessly.

Sakura was drifting in and out of consciousness at this point, and could only just piece together what the man was saying. She didn't like the way he swung his weapon around nor the way he stared at her intently, as it could only promise more pain - though by this point she was pretty sure she couldn't possibly feel anymore pain without dying. She felt unconsciousness settling in and welcomed it, hoping this would be the end. As her eyelids grew heavier, she saw Ikuro spin and slam the iron weight down with all of his might, bringing on excruciating pain in her right leg, making the distinct count that could only be bones shattering. She screamed as loudly as she could, damaging her vocal cords in the process and instantly snapping back into consciousness. Her eyes widened as she saw the man smile as he reveled in her agony. The intense pain blocked all of Sakura's other senses. She couldn't hear anything nor see anything and struggled to take a breath as her body shook uncontrollably.

"Hmmm… enough foreplay don't you think?" Ikuro exclaimed while tossing his weapon to the side and kneeling down on his knees at Sakura's feet. His lustful gaze was on Sakura as he moved to straddle her hips and place his hand on her cheek when suddenly he stiffened and quickly turned to look behind him. "For fuck's sakes, are you serious?" he mumbled to himself as he stretched his arm out to grab his kusarigama. "Now you wait here for a bit baby doll, I'll be right back." He grabbed Sakura's hand and kissed the back of it and continued on to kiss every one of her fingers in turn before getting up as Sakura felt four chakra signatures entering the scene of the disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

Akio never thought he would be using his meager medical skills to heal a dog anytime soon. Having only learned how to diagnose injuries and heal cuts and scrapes a week ago, there was no way he could mend a dog's broken bones.

Akio's ANBU team was completing two assassination missions on the border of Suna, when one of their targets managed to get a hit on two of his captain's summons. The first dog, Bisuke, suffered three broken ribs and the second dog, Shiba, suffered a broken front paw while attempting to distract their target.

Unfortunately for their target, this was the first time any of the ANBU captain's summons got injured which caused the silver haired shinobi - Hatake Kakashi - to enter a blind rage and ruthlessly kill his target. With Akio's help, they managed to complete one assassination mission. The two other members of the team were left to face off against their second target and a small army of 16 mid to high ranking shinobi a few kilometers away. Akio knew his two comrades could take care of the second mission, seeing as they were two of the top shinobi in the village. However, it would seem that the taller of the two suffered a stab wound to his left side when he intercepted a blow meant for his friend.

Once the missions were completed, Akio had diagnosed the two canines' injuries and, upon realizing that he didn't have the required skills to properly heal them, created a splint for the broken paw and bandaged the dogs as best as possible to minimize the pain. He then quickly healed his captain and two teammates' injuries, and bandaged his teammate with the stab wound.

Akio's chakra control was always slightly above average and was the only reason he was capable of learning the basics of medical ninjutsu - he didn't believe he had the control necessary for major surgery, but he would learn as much as he was physically capable. There was a lack of medical-nin in Konoha, which fueled his determination to learn this branch of ninjutsu, in order to hopefully one day be able to save his family and friends if needed. He had been learning medical ninjutsu for the past two years and had finally managed to perform the mystical palm technique without wasting much chakra.

"Sorry taichou, this is the best I can do for them." Akio informed his superior.

"It's ok, you're not on this mission as a medic, you did more than I expected." The silver haired captain replied and crouched down to his injured ninken. His ANBU mask prevented his team from seeing any emotion, but Akio knew his captain was worried for his summons and felt responsible for them getting injured.

"Taichou, we should leave before others arrive." Akio stated, seeing smoke in the distance. The two ANBU that had fought against 16 shinobi of chunin and jonin rank, in addition to their assassination target, had fought in an impressive battle of ninjutsu. The fight, however, had been like a beacon, and had most likely attracted the attention of all shinobi in the area.

"Bisuke, Shiba, are you two good to go home?" The captain asked the two ninken who nodded their head. The two dogs vanished in a puff of smoke as the silver haired man stood up and motioned to his team that they were leaving.

The journey home was silent for the next day and a half until the silver haired ANBU stopped suddenly on a branch.

"Two strong chakra signatures southwest of here. We have to backtrack a bit but we'll go check it out." The captain stated. He turned around towards his teammates and continued "is everyone in good enough shape for another fight?"

The three other ANBU members nodded.

"Taichou, there are three very faint signatures with them, and they're getting weaker by the minute." the taller of Akio's teammates indicated.

"Then let's hurry." The silver haired man replied as he ran towards the chakra signatures.

The scene Akio stumbled upon was an absolute bloodbath. There were two adult bodies lying a short distance away from where he landed on the ground, covered in blood and not moving an inch. Akio assumed that these two adults had died a horrible death, judging by the amount of blood soaking the grass around the bodies and shredded flesh on their exposed chests.

Somehow one of the two strong signatures had managed to escape, but the second signature belonged to a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds. The man seemed to be kissing a hand before he slowly stood up and faced the four ANBU members; he had brown hair, pale blue eyes and a scar across his face - a face none of them would ever forget. Kakashi informed Akio to look for survivors and if possible, heal them, while he and his ninken would search for the shinobi who escaped.

Akio managed to tear his eyes away from the two bodies and noticed a patch of pink on the ground, where the cloaked figure was previously kneeling on the ground. He took a step towards the odd colour and noticed that a child was laying there, her body shaking and her breath ragged as she lifted her head to look around.

The little girl's head suddenly fell back to the ground as she hyperventilated while Akio rushed to her side to diagnose her state and his two teammates engaged the enemy. His eyes widened as he let his chakra scan her body and couldn't believe the amount of damage inflicted upon this child; he hoped his teammates could bring down the monster he assumed did this to her. He sent more chakra throughout her body to finish his diagnosis and gritted his teeth at all the punctures and cuts he discovered, but the most sickening wound was her shattered tibia and fibula in her right leg. There were bone fragments in her entire lower leg, embedded in her muscles, tendons and ligaments. Akio could only imagine the amount of agony this girl had been through today and cursed himself that he neither had enough chakra to numb her pain nor the skill to heal her half decently. He also noticed that she still had 2 kunai and a senbon embedded in her from the back, which meant she was lying on the weapons and they kept digging deeper into her body.

Akio realized that the only thing he could do for the girl was to give her a blood replenishing pill and heal as many wounds as possible to prevent further blood loss. He wasn't sure what to do or where to start; as he had never had to deal with this much damage to a human body before - the worst injury he ever managed to heal was a shallow kunai cut from training with his team. Taking a deep breath he tried to catalogue the injuries and determine the most critical one as a starting point. He noticed that most of her injuries were done by either a kunai or the missing nin's kusarigama and managed to go deep enough to cut more than just flesh - muscles, tendons, ligaments and organs had been perforated.

"Taichou!" Akio called out sharply, hoping that his captain would come help him. While keeping a hand on the girl to send chakra to her injuries, he grabbed his pouch and laid it beside him. The silver haired ANBU and his ninken appeared beside him, and Akio saw both of his eyes widen at the sight before him. "I need you to go through my pouch, grab the red pill and get her to eat it quickly, I don't know how much more blood she can lose."

Kakashi found the pill easily enough then stood still for a second, trying to figure out the best way to get the girl to take the pill seeing as she was unconscious. He knelt down beside her still form and extended a hand to shake her shoulder as her breathing rapidly increased; she was waking up. The ninken had gathered around the girl, hoping that she would feel comforted with them protecting her.

"We're here to help you, just eat this quickly." Kakashi stated flatly as the little girl's eyes flew open and fear briefly flashed across her face before it changed to joy. Kakashi couldn't understand why she would be-

"White... fang…" the little girl whispered through her ragged breaths while staring at Kakashi. Akio's eyes widened and shot a glance at his captain; it was taboo to mention Kakashi's father around him, hopefully he wouldn't do anything drastic to the little girl.

Instead, the ANBU captain surprised the medic in training by calmly reiterating through clenched teeth "I need you to take this pill, can you do that for me?" The little girl grunted and struggled to move her shaking hand until Kakashi told her to open her mouth, and he proceeded to feed her the pill. Thankfully, she was able to chew and swallow - Akio didn't think Kakashi would have been up to helping her chew by moving her jaw up and down, though Akio would have thoroughly enjoyed watching it - but she cried out in pain when she swallowed.

"Boar, anything else you need me to do for the girl before I track the missing nin's partner?" the captain asked as he turned to look at Akio.

"I'd like to remove the kunai and senbon from her, but she shouldn't be moved right now, so no, I should be ok from here on out, though I hope she holds out until we get her back to the village." Akio glanced at his two teammates battling against their enemy; he was always amazed at their cohesiveness. The two dark haired shinobi were very close and always had each others' back in battle. It always looked like they could communicate telepathically, since they never said a word yet always anticipated the other's movements. The one thing that worried Akio was that the blue eyed man was keeping up and fending them both off at the same time; something he never thought possible.

"Bisuke, Shiba, you guys can head back home, sorry for summoning you." Kakashi told his two injured summons with a twinge of guilt before continuing, "Boar, as soon as Bear and Panther finish, have Bear bring the girl back, and Panther seal the two bodies and the missing nin. I just have to make sure the other one isn't heading towards the village." Akio nodded as his captain took off with the rest of his pack while he continued to pump chakra into the girl's leg, trying his hardest to soothe any amount of pain.

The girl's anguished screams stopped as she fell unconscious and her breathing finally slowed down, which made Akio release a breath he didn't know he was holding - unconsciousness was probably the only way she wouldn't be in pain. While pumping chakra through her body, he was barely able to feel her heartbeat; in fact, his own heart skipped a beat when he could no longer feel hers. His breath caught in his throat and he let out a hoarse "fuck!" as his eyes widened - he was not letting her die, she was too young.

Akio stumbled from his crouching position to get in place for chest compressions. He placed his shaking hands on her chest and sent chakra to feel for her heartbeat. Luckily he felt a very faint beating and sighed in relief.

"What's wrong?" Bisuke asked with a hint of worry. Both he and Shiba had not left the area like Kakashi had told them to; they were both staring at the girl lying on the ground, surrounded by blood.

"I thought her heart stopped." Akio replied, hesitating on healing her from his new position just so he could keep a closer eye on her heart, or placing himself closer to her leg to try and sooth the pain once she regained consciousness.

"What can we do to help the kid?" It was Shiba who asked this time, wanting to help the child despite being injured.

"Can you try to keep her awake? It's either she's in pain and awake or she's out cold and I may not be able to monitor if her heart stops." Akio relented. This was a lose-lose situation, the girl either died or was in excruciating pain.

"I can try to keep her conscious if you'd like, just tell me where she isn't hurt." Bisuke offered as he moved closer to the girl.

Easier said than done Akio thought to himself and said "Her head and neck are your best bet."

Bisuke slowly hobbled over to Sakura's head and lay down next to her. He gave her a quick lick on the cheek, and rested his cold, wet nose on her temple, not wanting to accidentally tickle her or startled her awake.

The girl groaned and whimpered; trying to catch her breath as her eyes opened slowly - why was her face wet and cold? Did the man cut her face when she blacked out? She turned her head to the side and saw the dog lying down beside her, which confused the hell out of her.

"Hey there kid, my name's Bisuke. Hope you don't mind but I've been tasked to keep you awake"

"I'm not dead yet?" Sakura asked as she tried to move, her voice raspy from all her screaming. Stabbing pain shot through all her wounds and she cried out, her throat hurting just as much as her cuts. "P-please kill me. I can't do this anymore. Please..." She sobbed quietly, having completely given up on life.

Akio didn't know what to do; he had never seen someone so young ready to die. No, not ready to die, asking for death. Pleading for death even. He just didn't know what to do - the only thing he knew for sure was that he was not going to kill her - and he was quickly running out of chakra. He knew that soon, the child's pain would come full force and it wouldn't be pretty. He glanced up at her through his mask, willing her to be strong. Seeing a child hurt was never easy, and he didn't trust his voice to be steady if he spoke up.

Luckily his captain's other dog, Shiba, piped in as he laid down on the girl's chest where there was no blood "You can hold me and squeeze when it hurts. I know I can't take the pain away, but I can try to help."

Sakura looked at the dog laying on her and moved her right arm to encircle the dog, but the deep cut on her back pulled open and her arm fell limply by her side. She then tried to move her left arm, but the kunai in her shoulder dug deeper and caused her to yelp in pain and again, her arm fell to her side. She felt Bisuke licking her cheek, and a quiet chuckle broke through her sobbing. She settled for moving her forearms to pet Shiba, which thankfully didn't cause her any pain.

"Is your hair naturally pink?" Bisuke asked while sniffing Sakura's hair. "It's really pretty and soft" Sakura giggled softly at the dog's comment and gave him a small smile while shaking from the pain.

"Yeah, it's really pink." Sakura responded quietly, her eyes growing heavier by the second "But I think... Shiba's fur is softer than my hair though… yours too I bet" her eyes shut completely and her head rolled to the side.

"Sorry Pinky, I can't let you fall asleep just yet." Bisuke stated before he started licking Sakura's cheek to wake her up.

Akio silently thanked Kakashi's ninken for distracting the girl and keeping her awake and alive while he eased her pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, Akio saw a flicker of light and he snapped his head to the side. He noticed a kunai with an explosive tag just in time for him to instinctively grab the girl and two dogs and body flicker out of range of the explosion. As soon as he reappeared a distance away, the girl started hyperventilating and shaking profusely while crying out from the pain. He had unwittingly caused all of the child's injuries to move and reopen as he moved her off the ground. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Akio panicked in his head.

Bear and Panther appeared near Akio protectively and glanced at the girl in their teammate's arms. She was deathly pale, covered in blood and silently screaming. They turned their attention to the blue eyed man as he let out a low whistle.

"Well boys, I think it's about time we ended this little warm up so I can bring her home with me huh?" the missing nin Ikuro casually stated, swinging his sickle around with the grace of a dancer.

Ikuro crouched low and gave the three ANBU a cocky smirk as he appeared behind Panther bringing his weapon down quickly on the shortest ANBU operative. Luckily, Panther already predicted his enemy's movements and stopped the sickle with his tanto, allowing Bear to thrust his own sword into the missing nin's side. Ikuro growled as he twisted his sickle with one hand, forcing Panther to let go of his tanto. With his other hand, Ikuro swung the weight of his kusarigama around himself and towards Bear's masked face. Bear disappeared just before getting hit, and reappeared several meters away, where he breathed in deeply, releasing his Gokakyu no jutsu (Great fireball technique) towards the fighting duo.

As soon as Panther's tanto was out of his hands, he sidestepped the swing of the sickle and layered two genjutsu around his teammate so the missing nin wouldn't find him. The young ANBU focused on being the distraction for his cousin as he saw the fire coming towards him. He tactfully maneuvered his enemy between himself and the incoming fireball and jumped into the trees as the flames came closer. When he landed on the branch, he felt a hard object pierce through his shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. He glanced up and saw the blue eyed man standing on the branch he was previously on, grinning wildly.

"You'll have to do better than that." the cloaked man stated confidently. Little did he know Bear was still covered by a genjutsu and had appeared behind him, quickly making hand signs for his offensive body flicker technique. Panther crouched down in a ready stance, not wanting to let the enemy know his cousin was seconds away from attacking. The young ANBU put his tanto away and started a long chain of hand signs, too fast for the enemy to see - and it was a good thing, seeing as Panther was bluffing and not actually using ninjutsu.

Bear finished his last hand sign and attacked the blue eyed man from every direction, slashing, cutting and stabbing his enemy repeatedly. Sheer luck allowed Ikuro to land a few hits on Bear - he couldn't seem to get rid of the damn clones, they didn't disappear when they got hit.

Panther watched for a few seconds before joining the fray, wearing down their enemy. Every once in awhile, he had to parry and dodge the sickle's attacks, which were not as precise as before because Bear's body flicker confused the hell out of the missing nin. Bear managed to be everywhere at once, leaving after-images that could strike with actual force.

Sakura watched, mesmerized by the speed of the battle - she could barely see a thing - and the cohesiveness of the two ANBU members. Her eyes were glued to the fight when she managed to stay awake and not shake uncontrollably from the pain radiating throughout her body. She felt the man holding her relax as Bear decapitated the terrifying blue eyed man. She flinched as she saw the head fall to the ground, which brought back memories of watching her aunt's chest getting ripped into. Sakura's eyes glazed over as she saw the horrors of earlier that day once again.

"No! Leave her alone!" Sakura cried out, trying to get the demon away from her aunt. She started sobbing uncontrollably and screaming as Shiba nuzzled closer to her, trying to snap her out of her memories. Seeing as that was not working, Akio tried to shake the girl softly, hoping to have better luck but to no avail. Bisuke decided to give her hand a small nip, which instantly made the girl snap back to reality. The two dogs and ANBU member sighed in relief, they simply didn't enjoy hearing her painful screams, knowing they could never stop the memories from haunting her.

She looked at the dog who bit her and gave a small smile, thankful for getting rid of her painful flashback of losing two of her important people who taught her everything she knew about being a ninja - which was not much, but they at least expressed the desire to teach her.

Bear appeared near the little group and looked at the girl in his teammate's arms. He could see the fear and pain in her eyes, but the worst part was seeing her covered in blood and her right leg. Her lower right leg was heavily bruised and he swore those were fragments of bones piercing her skin. Seeing this little girl made a shiver run down his spine; he didn't understand how she was still conscious, she should be out cold from the sheer pain. He glanced at her face and noticed she was now looking towards the two bodies that were on the ground when his team had arrived. Absently, he noted that his teammate was not moving a single muscle - a remarkable feat on its own after the mission they had and the state of their exhaustion - in order to not move the girl's leg and send her into another fit of pain.

"C-can I say goodbye…?" The pink haired girl whispered sadly as this was probably the last time she would see their faces in person.

"You can, but as soon as I move, you will be in pain again. I can't do anything to stop the pain from your leg. The only thing I can do is wrap it tightly to try to reduce the pain caused by our movement." Akio responded as-a-matter-of-factly, having decided that there is no way of stopping the pain. "The best bet is to wrap it for the journey home; do you think you can handle a bit more pain?"

The little girl's emerald eyes started to shimmer with unshed tears, taking a deep breath, she nodded softly against Akio's shoulder, preparing herself for another world of hurt.

"Bear, take her gently and I'll wrap her leg." Akio stated as he shifted the girl into his teammate's arms. He winced as a painful cry escaped the child's lips and her breathing sharpened.

"Hey princess, you can hold my hand or shoulder and squeeze as hard as you want when it hurts if that will help." Bear told the girl softly. She glanced at him for a few seconds before her lips started to quiver and she grabbed his large hand in her right, and his shoulder with her left, getting ready for the flood of pain.

"Can you move closer to that tree so we can reach her from the branch?" Shiba asked Bear, wanting to be as close to the girl as possible. Bear nodded and slowly backed up closer to the tree. Both dogs climbed the tree and stood on the lowest branch, now being at the same height as the girl's face. Bisuke nuzzled his face in her hair and Shiba rested near her neck.

Akio took out a white roll of bandage and crouched down to have better access to the girl's leg and took a deep breath. He glanced up at the two dogs and the ANBU and nodded, indicating that he was going to start. As soon as he started wrapping the bandage around her ankle, she jerked and started wailing loudly.

"Stop! Stop it it hurts too much!" Sakura tried wriggling free of her hold, anything to stop the fire spreading through her leg. She shrieked as the pain increased tenfold before she collapsed in Bear's hold.

"Fuck that did not sound pleasant" Bear said, trying his best to keep the girl still while Akio wrapped her leg. The two dogs whimpered and crept closer to the girl - they were practically on Bear's shoulder instead of the branch - her screams tugging away at their instinct to protect someone so young and innocent.

Akio finished wrapping Sakura's leg and tucked a strand of her pink locks behind her ear, glancing sadly at her bruised and dirtied face. She reminded him of his sister who had passed away when he was ten years old and she was seven - both of the girls' face looked like they were at peace. No! This little girl wasn't dead he reminded himself, but in the very back of his mind, his thoughts added a soft yet.

Akio shook his head and looked at Panther in the clearing; he was busy gathering the bodies to seal them away for travel. It was Panther's first ANBU mission and unfortunately, it was a sort of hazing that the new recruits went through on their first mission; carrying the dead bodies and sealing them away. Even though this particular ANBU was very young, no one wanted to single him out and treat him differently because he was a prodigy.

"I'll head back with princess. I'll see you guys back at the Hokage tower. You two will have to get off me, i won't have enough chakra for all four of us to get back." Bear said turning towards the village as the ninken climbed back onto the branch. I better make it in time, he told himself as he used his body flicker technique - the fastest way of travelling.

As soon as Bear reappeared from his first body flicker with the pink haired girl, she shrieked from the pain of being jolted around and struggled to free herself from his hold. Bear instinctively tightened his grip on her and felt her stiffen as she cried softly, pleading him to end her agony. His heart sank he realized he was hurting her. His grip on the child loosened enough to not put pressure on her body and she stopped struggling against him.

"Princess, I'm really sorry but this is the quickest way to get you to a hospital. If I don't get you there soon…" Bear trailed off, not wanting to think of what would happen if they didn't get there in time.

"I… I c-can't. Just l-leave me here… please" the girl quietly implored him, still feeling the rawness of her throat every time she spoke or involuntarily screamed.

Bear looked down at her pained expression; the last time he had seen someone in so much pain had been during the third shinobi war when he was still a child. One of his teammates had gotten his leg cut off from a wind jutsu and had lost too much blood yet they were 3 days run away from the nearest encampment. Bear had struggled to carry the injured man and was a few hours away from camp when he felt his teammate go limp. He instantly knew they had not made it in time. Bear had cursed himself for being so weak and vowed to get stronger and faster so he would never arrive late when a comrade was injured.

Bear refused to let the pink haired child die, because unlike his teammate, she didn't choose to be in a fight to the death, she didn't voluntarily risk her life for the sake of the village. She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, it wasn't her fault.

He cleared his throat after he reminded himself that he would not - could not - let her down. "That's not going to happen. I won't let you die."

The girl took a few breaths and opened her eyes to look at him. His voice had changed from being reassuring and comforting to something much more serious. She believed he would be able to save her somehow, but she wasn't stupid enough to think it wouldn't hurt.

Bear saw her eyes open and saw her beautiful green eyes glistening and looking straight at him. She held so much hope in her gaze; he couldn't help but smile down at her. Knowing she couldn't see his smile, he told her "I'm going to do the same technique as before, but quicker. You'll most likely be in pain the entire time, but it's the fastest way back to Konoha. We should be there in a few hours at most. I'm so sorry but this is the best chance you have."

Her eyes widened in realization and her gaze clouded over as she stared into her saviour's eyes. She had never seen someone with red eyes before; maybe she was starting to hallucinate with everything she'd been through today. Her eyes grew heavy as they closed shut and she drifted off into unconsciousness.

Bear relaxed when he felt the girl enter the genjutsu. He didn't know if it would hold, seeing as the first sign of pain outside the genjutsu could release it, but it was worth a shot if she could have a slight reprieve.

He took note of his remaining chakra and estimated that with a soldier pill he would either reach the hospital and collapse or collapse just outside the village. Oh how he hoped it would be the former. Taking a deep breath he took a soldier pill and took off into the forest.

Again, after one body flicker, the young girl screamed in agony pushing away from the ANBU member. Well that genjutsu was a waste of chakra. If he used a stronger genjutsu, he wouldn't make it to the village, which left only one option; let the girl suffer through the pain. Bear bit his lip in frustration and resigned them both to their fates for the next few hours.

"I'm so sorry princess." he whispered while he held her tight enough to prevent her from falling but not too tight to hurt her and body flickered away.

Throughout the forest Sakura's screams could be heard as the ANBU member and the young girl travelled quickly towards Konoha. By the time Bear could see the red gates of the village, he quickly took note of his chakra levels and guessed he had enough for one long body flicker before he passed out.

He glanced down at the girl in his arms and took note of her new injuries. She had bit through her lip from the torturous experience of body flickering as fire burned throughout her body. She was flushed - probably a fever or infection - and covered in blood, both dry and fresh. She was quietly crying as a few tears trailed down her face, how she could still have any fluids in her body was beyond Bear's understanding. She hadn't stopped bleeding or crying since they started their journey 3 hours ago.

He then took note of his own physical state. His cheeks were damp from his own tears - no one in their right mind would be able to witness a child in agony for so long without being affected. He thought of his cousin who was about the same age as this girl and could not for the life of him imagine his younger cousin surviving this ordeal. Bear shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts as he felt his hands cramping from holding onto the girl so tightly - he was sure he was causing her more pain but he couldn't loosen his grip even if he tried, his muscles were cramped in that position.

Bear managed to push through his final body flicker as he landed into the reception area of the hospital. Black tendrils crept into his view but he willed them away, he wanted to make sure someone took care of the girl before he passed out. He noticed someone with a white lab coat approaching him which made the ANBU member smile softly.

"She's lost a lot of blood, her leg is destroyed and she probably has a lot more things wrong with her. Please take care of her." Bear struggled to finish his sentence before he felt someone take the girl from his arms after which he gave into his body's demand for rest and promptly passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

He didn't know why he felt the urge to go visit the little girl he had helped save the previous week, but it seemed to him like it was something he simply had to do. He had decided that he wouldn't physically go inside the room since there was no way she could possibly know who he was, which would make things very awkward. She had only seen him with his mask on and he wasn't sure she would remember anything that had happened that night.

As he walked over to the receptionist at the front desk he had noticed that her cheeks were flushed bright red when she looked up to greet him. It was a common occurrence for the women and girls of the village to be smitten by him and his cousin, and to be quite honest, he felt overwhelmed by it all. He didn't like being the centre of attention, and would rather be left alone; all he needed was a few close friends he could rely on.

"G-good morning! C-can I help you?" the woman stuttered shyly, blushing even brighter still.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me a patient's room number, she was brought in last week." He started and noticed that the receptionist's expression quickly turned to disappointment when she realized the young man was coming to visit a girl. Trying his hardest not to roll his eyes at the woman's blatant jealousy he added: "she has pink hair and is around 5 or 6 years old."

At this, the receptionist perked up and started scanning through her files. "Room 304, is she related to you!?" she asked while batting her eyelashes. This only served to annoy the shinobi and he quickly turned and walked away, towards the staircase.

He reached the third floor and went down the left corridor, but slowed down when he neared her room. He wasn't quite sure how he would check up on the pink haired girl; he might just have to wait until she fell asleep so he could sneak in to see how she was doing. He stopped a few meters away from room 304 and felt for the girl's chakra. She seemed to be awake, evidenced by the chakra fluctuations that he felt, as if she was actively using it, periodically. He hoped she would go to sleep shortly because he felt pretty awkward standing around in the hallway - he thought that perhaps he could body flicker onto the roof and wait it out until she fell asleep.

Maybe I should just come back a few hours later and try again, he thought. His 6 year old cousin usually took a nap in the middle of the day and since the two kids were about the same age, maybe he could convince his little cousin to come visit-

"Anbu-san you can come in if you want." it took him a few moments to realize the small voice came from room 304. To say he was surprised would be an understatement - there was no way the child knew he was standing outside her room, right?

He slowly walked the few steps left to room 304 and slowly opened the door. There she was, the pink haired girl sitting up in her hospital bed with what appeared to be a heavy book on her lap. He locked eyes with her and saw the gratitude in her eyes as a bright smile lit up her face. His heart stopped for a fraction of a second; he realized how worried he was about her safety as a weight lifted from his shoulders with her elated expression. He matched her smile with an equally exultant smile before sitting in the chair next to her bed, hoping he wasn't overstepping any boundaries.

He took a deep breath and relaxed fully into his seat feeling more comfortable in the plastic chair than he had been in his home for the past week.

* * *

Sakura had been reading her last birthday present from her aunt - the book on chakra theory and exercises - when she felt a familiar chakra signature approaching her room. It was warm and gentle, it didn't suffocate her like the blue eyed man who hurt her. Over the past week she had practiced what her aunt had started teaching her about sensing chakra.

She had gotten paranoid from her recurring nightmares in which she witnessed her aunt and uncle die repeatedly at the hands of the tendril monster. However, the worst nightmares were the ones where the ANBU didn't save her in time or when her aunt and uncle blamed her for their death and tried to kill her. The nightmares occurred every time she went to sleep, leading to violent awakenings ending with horrifying screams and clawing at doctors or nurses if they had the misfortune of being in the vicinity.

She lived in a constant state of panic for the first few days she was hospitalized and she hoped to find herself in that state ever again - she knew that her mind was playing tricks on her but she was powerless to do anything about it. Her mind couldn't discern if she was still having a nightmare or if she was awake in her hospital room, they all blurred into one. Once in a while, she would mistake a doctor for one of her assailants and struggle to get away from him, causing pain to radiate up from her shattered leg and shoot up her spine, causing her to go deeper into a crazed state until she would finally be given a needle that would knock her out.

She had heard the doctors and nurses outside of her room saying something about paranoia and traumatic stress and made a note to find out what those words meant when she had the chance. The staff had started giving her more medication after the first few days which helped to dull her senses and forget her night terrors - she still woke up with a raw throat, but she was able to function somewhat normally when she wasn't sleeping. She didn't think she could go on with life in her current state, she felt so alone, defenseless and didn't feel that she would be able to face the next day.

For the first five days of her hospitalization, she had spent most of her time asleep and the few hours per day that she was awake for were largely spent crying. She had just lost two of the most precious people in the world to her and her parents were still out of town on business with her cousin. My cousin… she thought, my cousin just lost his parents because they had taken me out of town for my birthday. The guilt kept creeping into her being, prompting bouts of sadness deeper than she had ever felt. She tried as hard as she could to not feel like she was the cause of the deaths but a part of her kept nagging her, pounding into her the thought that it was all her fault. The pieces of her heart that she had given to her aunt and uncle had been thoroughly broken. On top of the guilt, she was in immense pain despite being heavily medicated. Sakura had to be very careful when moving around on the bed because the slightest movement would cause any number of her injuries to send out jolts of pain.

It was after her mind had wandered to the darkest places imaginable that she had started distracting herself with her reading. The only book that she had with her was her birthday present, and it had taken her one full day to build up the courage to open it up. Her book was covered in blood - her own and her aunt's - and she spent the entire day petrified, unable to tear her eyes away from the mess. It was the first day she didn't spent most of it asleep, though she wasn't having nightmares, her eidetic memory made her remember all the vivid details of the murders.

After that day of visual torture, she started reading and spent more time awake than asleep. In the span of two days, she had read the book twice from front to back and yesterday she had started practicing a few chakra exercises. The first thing she did was practice what her aunt had taught her - sense other people's chakra. Sakura had spent some time yesterday sensing when a chakra signature approached her door so she would know when a nurse of doctor would check up on her - it was a challenge she gave herself, seeing as every time someone entered her room, she flinched involuntarily.

Today she had been practising her chakra sensing when she felt a familiar chakra approach her room. She instinctively felt safe and relaxed a little in her bed. She assumed it was just a coincidence and he was walking through the corridors to visit a friend when he slowed down as he neared her room. She waited a few minutes when he eventually stopped just shy of her door and built up her courage to say something.

When Sakura opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out as she realized she hadn't spoken to anyone in several days. She reached for her glass of water on the bedside table and cleared her throat quietly. He was still standing outside her room which confused her to no end; was he coming to see her? She hadn't had a visitor since she was admitted to the hospital and was ecstatic at the idea that she wouldn't be alone for some time. Afraid that the anbu member would leave at any minute she blurted out "Anbu-san you can come in if you want."

She waited a few moment with bated breath, hoping against all hopes the shinobi was indeed coming to see her until his chakra signature came right up to her room. She couldn't help but smile broadly, it was the first time all week that she had any real sense of safety.

She saw the door open and finally got to see one of her saviors and he was not what Sakura expected at all. She thought only seasoned shinobi were in anbu, but this man - no, teenager - was one of the elite. He had dark, unkempt hair and the nicest eyes she had ever seen. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with a red and white clan symbol on it though Sakura didn't know what clan it represented.

When he locked eyes with her, he instantly smiled - the warmest and brightest smile Sakura had ever seen - which brought tears to her eyes. She finally felt as if she was strong enough to face tomorrow and everyday thereafter and as if she would be able to get past the death of her aunt and uncle. She watched him as he moved closer and sat down in the chair. She saw him let out a breath of relief as he sunk down lower into the chair and took in every aspect of the one who had made sure she survived her ordeal.

Sakura couldn't stop looking at him, he looked relaxed and comfortable as if they had known each other their whole lives. She wasn't sure why he came to see her, and asked him just that.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. It's just something that's been nagging at me ever since I brought you here last week." he said while scratching the back of his head sheepishly "I just wanted to make sure you were doing ok."

Just the thought of him being concerned about her caused a warmth to spread throughout Sakura's body and her emotions got the best of her and she started weeping.

* * *

He was startled when the little girl started crying, and did the only thing any decent human being would do; he stood up and engulfed her in a hug while being mindful of her leg that was encased in a cast. He felt her stiffen momentarily, but was relieved when she grabbed onto his shirt and clung on. It felt so natural for him to hold her, to be there for her and comfort her even though he had only just met her a week ago.

"T-thank you… thank you so much…" the young girl sobbed. The amount of emotion in the few words she spoke tugged at his heart; life just wasn't fair for some people, she should be enjoying her childhood not in mourning.

He continued to hold her and whispered into her hair "That's what knights in shining armor do. They save the princess." he smiled as he finished speaking, finally realizing just how corny he sounded. He didn't expect the girl to start shaking suddenly and he quickly backed away from her to look at her. The curious thing was that she was laughing now, and no longer crying.

"I have a name you know." the pink haired girl teased.

"Princess is pretty accurate. Or better yet, the cherry blossom princess. I think that suits you-" he cut himself off as he watched the child try her best to stifle her laughter. She had tears streaming down her face and her hands were covering her mouth while she laughed.

"What's so funny?" he asked her, poking her in the sides which served to only increase her giggling fit.

"That's my name!" she exclaimed between bouts of laughter "My name's Sakura. Haruno Sakura"

Both of them were laughing like idiots by this point; how unoriginal of her parents to name her Sakura when she had pink hair!

"Well my name is Uchiha Shisui." he reciprocated when he had managed to stop laughing. It felt good to laugh finally, but the best feeling was that he was able to help Sakura relax and be a carefree child even if it was just for a moment.

Sakura laid back down onto her bed with her book still open on her lap while Shisui sat down onto his chair. She looked emotionally exhausted and he didn't want to be the reason to keep her awake, so he decided that maybe he should read her a bedtime story - since that's what people did for children right?

"I can read you a bedtime story so you can go to sleep" Shisui started while grabbing the book on the pink haired child's lap. "What story is this? Does the princess get saved by a handsome young knight?"

Sakura was thoroughly confused; if he wanted to read her a bedtime story, why was he taking that book, was he going to read-

"Meditation increases your spiritual energy capacity..." Shisui began dumbfoundedly. He looked at the cover of the book and read "Chakra theory and exercises". What child in their right mind chose to read about chakra for fun aside from Itachi. "Why are you-"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Shisui's expression, he seemed shocked and utterly speechless. "It was a birthday present from my aunt. She gave it to me earlier that day when… everything… happened." Talking about that day sobered Sakura up quickly and she reached for her book. Shisui held it out for her and as soon as it was within reach she grabbed it and held onto it like a lifeline.

"So that was your aunt and uncle?" Shisui inquired, feeling relieved that at least her parents had not been killed in front of her.

"..." Sakura couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she simply nodded and kept her eyes downcast trying to shield herself from the pitying look Shisui was probably giving her.

Shisui looked at the book she was holding dear and finally noticed the red splotches that littered the cover and pages. He didn't know whose blood that was, but he had a few guesses and none of them reassured him.

"How did you know I was standing in the hallway earlier?" he asked, mentally patting himself on the back for changing the subject so subtly.

Sakura looked up through her bangs and saw Shisui's genuine curiosity "My aunt started teaching me how to sense chakra signatures. I only know three- actually just one now, or so I thought. I don't know how I remember yours, it took me a few months to be able to remember my friend's chakra. But I like your chakra, it makes me feel safe." She beamed at him, rosy cheeks and trails of tears down her face.

"That's pretty impressive for a kid. You remind me of my cousin, he was part of the team that saved you, and I can try to bring him when I visit later this week." He didn't know what compelled him to say that but it felt right, until he saw her eyes widen with disbelief and stare at him with a gaping mouth.

"You-you want to come see me again?" Sakura stuttered, not sure why he would be coming a second time when she clearly wasn't his responsibility.

Shisui looked at her and gave her a smile bright enough to throw away all possible doubts she could have that he wasn't sincere. "Of course I want to come see you again, you must be pretty lonely at times. I'm sure your parents can't come visit all day every day." he didn't even know if her parents were alive, this could have been the completely wrong thing to say, maybe he shouldn't have-

"My parents are out of town. They should be back in a few weeks." She stated quietly with a small smile.

"Well in that case, I'll be by more often. Is there anything you want me to bring you? In case you finish your book."

Sakura looked at him with awe and admiration; why was he offering to help her and bring her things when he just met her. "Ummm, I already read this book twice. I have a few books at home that you could bring me if you don't mind." She felt like she was asking too much from Shisui, but his smile just made her feel so at home, that she spoke without restraint.

"That's not a problem princess. Now, how would you like to learn how to hide your chakra? It's not too complicated, but with practice you may be able to hide it so well that people won't be able to find you easily."

* * *

As Shisui left her room with a promise to be back the next day during visiting hours, Sakura felt her heartbreak lessen just a little bit. She still felt as if two parts of her heart were missing and she that she would never be able to fully heal, but she had a bit of hope that things would get better. She had something new to practice during her stay, and a hopefully daily visitor who would talk to her about anything and everything. As her eyes began to shut, her mind reminded her that the tendril monster was still out in the world and could be back to hurt her, just like he had hurt her precious people.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I know this story is 4 chapters in and I haven't put any disclaimer up yet, but: obviously I don't own Naruto, I only own any OCs that are created in my story, though so far all three have died.**

 **I try my best to update when I can, but since July I've been working 80h a week so I don't have that much time for creative writing :(**

 **Your feedback is very helpful, so please make sure to leave a review, or PM me. Also, don't be shy to ask any questions!**

 **Enjoy the next chapter.**

* * *

Over the next week after Shisui's first visit, the hospital staff began reducing the number of painkillers the pink haired child was being given in hopes that she would be released soon. They weren't being heartless, they had an unusually high number of casualties and the little girl's parents could take care of her at home seeing as nothing could be done about her leg, save for amputation.

Sakura wasn't able to get more than 2 straight hours of sleep at a time seeing as the nightmares were getting worse due to the decrease in medication. She would often see the two cloaked men kill her entire family while she was tied up to a tree and forced to watch and endure every agonizing scream coming from her mother, her father, her cousin, her aunt and her uncle. The worst nightmare was when the ANBU team never managed to rescue her in time and she was slowly tortured physically, mentally and emotionally by the blue-eyed man. He would slowly carve her skin off inch by inch, including her eyelids and throw her into a lake; at which point she would wake up crying and throat raw from screaming.

The doctors had to repair her vocal chords several times and eventually, they had to tie her down when she was sleeping for fear that the little girl would eventually manage to scratch her own eyes out.

Shisui had been visiting Sakura every day for one full week when he entered her room and found her folded onto herself and crying. If he was being honest with himself, he was surprised that she hadn't broken down earlier considering everything she'd been through. He sat down on her hospital bed and pulled her gently into a hug, always being mindful of her leg.

Her other injuries were healing nicely, though they would all leave deep scars on her body. The doctors spent an hour each day looking over her injuries and trying to mend her shattered leg. Unfortunately, they had told Sakura that her leg would never be 100% but she still hoped that she would at least be able to walk on it though she wasn't holding her breath.

Sakura held onto Shisui, no longer able to put up a strong front. The nightmare she had the previous night was the most vivid nightmare she had had since being rescued. The smell of the grass underneath her, the sound of flesh tearing apart and the ringing screams of agony stayed with her even after she woke up. She had tried everything to stop her heart from pounding in her chest and the churning in her stomach but nothing helped. She had been living in her nightmare for an hour before she felt the familiar chakra approaching her room. At that point, her mind was playing tricks on her, yelling at her that a familiar chakra meant that the blue-eyed man was coming to get her and she froze while being hunched over herself, crying.

"P-please... make it s-stop." She sobbed quietly, not sure what Shisui could do to help.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Shisui asked as his blood ran cold, only fearing the worst. He tried to hide the panic in his voice but failed miserably when all he could feel was Sakura's trembling body.

The little girl looked into Shisui's eyes and he was taken aback by the sheer amount of terror and helplessness in her eyes. He had seen the same look during the third shinobi war on seasoned veterans as they realized that only death awaited them. He couldn't tear his eyes away from hers as she spoke.

"I can't stop the nightmare" She began softly "They won't stop screaming, I want them to stop!" She quickly turned away from Shisui as her stomach churned, but began shrieking in pain when she moved her shattered leg. The pain set in and the young girl couldn't tolerate it as she bawled her eyes out and failed at taking in deep breaths.

Shisui did the only thing he could think of when he panicked, he forced Sakura to look into his blood red eyes and put her under a genjutsu. She slumped instantly into his arms, and he took a few breaths to calm himself down.

He prided himself on being an ANBU member, capable of leading his own squad and making life and death decisions every day. He always remained calm, always stayed level headed even when a teammate was near death, but for some reason, for this child, he panicked when she was the slightest bit distraught.

Her eyes were the window to her soul and displayed every raw emotion and her vulnerability to the world. Shisui wanted to protect her from every evil in the world, and secretly hoped she would not become a shinobi in order to reduce her chances of being hurt, but he promised himself that he would help her get strong if she became a genin in several years.

He had become quite close to Sakura over the past week; she was so very fond of all the stories he told her about his missions and anything else shinobi related, while he enjoyed any and all the stories she told him and was captivated by her ability to shift from a mature 6-year-old to a silly 6-year-old. She loved to talk about her aunt and uncle; it was clear the three had been very close, they were her shinobi parents, the only people to support her dream of following in their footsteps.

He had learned a lot about the girl; most notably the fact that she only had one friend her own age, and got bullied constantly when she tried to make new ones. She had once tried to defend a young yellow haired boy her own age from other kids who had begun to throw rocks and hurl insults; only to have the young boy miraculously get away when she distracted the other kids by shifting their attention onto her. Shisui greatly admired Sakura's desire to protect others even if they were strangers - it was something he strongly believed in - despite the fact that she was so small and unintimidating.

Unfortunately, ever since the day she had stood up the boy, the other children made sure to bully her the most for trying to be a hero. Sakura almost stopped going to the park altogether; she only went when she was meeting her friend there to play. She spent most of her time at home either with her aunt and uncle when they weren't on missions or reading the multitude of books at her disposal.

When she had been brought to the hospital, the only book in her possession had been her aunt's birthday present on chakra theory. Luckily for her, when Shisui had offered to bring her more books, he had found a book on her bed. The book, _Poisonous Plants_ , was a birthday present from her uncle with a note that said he would start teaching her about poisons, so she should familiarize herself with the basics of poisons.

She had cried the night Shisui had brought her the book, with the knowledge that her uncle would never be able to teach her what he had wanted to. She spent most of the time when Shisui wasn't visiting her crying, mourning her aunt and uncle and trying to mend her broken heart.

* * *

Once Shisui calmed down after placing the child under a genjutsu, he went to search for her doctor to get an update on her condition. He had been informed that she would be discharged in a couple of weeks at the latest, since there was nothing they could do to heal her leg any further.

He quickly headed into town to grab some snacks for Sakura and himself before he broke her out of the genjutsu. The pain would probably subside within the hour, and he would be there to break her out and serve as distraction to her earlier nightmare.

He was a few blocks away from the market when he left his cousin's chakra nearby. Shisui quickly body flickered behind Itachi and tried to grab onto his arm. It was a game the two had been playing for years, as a way to test each other's skills. They had to reach out and touch the other without getting caught; this would work on their ability to hide their chakra and their ability to sense chakra as well. In their 4 years of playing this game, the score was tied at 2-2, and it had been 2 years since the last point had been made.

Itachi easily stepped away from Shisui's hand and turned around with a smirk.

"I sensed you before you body flickered, you're not hiding your chakra very well." Itachi stated as he took in his cousin's appearance. Shisui looked stressed which was something that rarely ever happened.

"Definitely not my best attempt that's for sure." Shisui said as he scratched the back of his head with his hand and an obviously fake smile plastered on.

"What's wrong?"

"I panicked with Sakura this morning, I didn't know what to do. She moved her leg and was in so much pain so I put her under a genjutsu. I was just so nervous." Shisui explained as he continued walking towards the market, Itachi following alongside him. "Do you think you can come visit her with me today? I'd really like you to meet her, she reminds me so much of you."

"Just because we both like reading books?"

"You both read the same kind of books; theory about chakra and anything else that no normal person would read." Shisui teased his cousin as he nudged him in the arm playfully. "There's something else too, but I can't quite put my finger on it, she can be so serious about life and she has such a big heart, always putting others before herself."

Itachi could hear the reverence for the young child in his cousin's voice which pleased him. He was very surprised at how quickly Shisui had become close to the pink haired girl they had saved about a week ago, usually Shisui avoided close relationships for fear of being betrayed or losing someone important.

Itachi still had a few more hours before his mother wanted to go shopping with him and his brother for new clothes which meant he could finally meet the injured child. He wouldn't admit it to Shisui but he was very curious to see what was so special about this girl for Shisui to instantly take a liking to her and visit her for hours every day.

"I can't right now, I have to eat first" Itachi bluffed just to see Shisui's reaction. The younger cousin was not disappointed when he glanced over and saw Shisui's disgruntled expression.

"No. We're getting you food and bringing it to the hospital with us, I have to get back to her, I should break her out of the genjutsu. I'll get enough food for the three of us, go to the hospital, I'll meet you there." With that Shisui body flickered away before Itachi could respond.

Itachi let out a quiet sigh and started to walk towards the hospital. This was a whole new side of Shisui he was going to have to get used to. It seems that his cousin had very little patience when it came to the pink haired girl so Itachi shouldn't push him too much. Most people were under the impression that the prodigious Uchiha clan heir was incapable of showing any form of emotion, the truth was that he only felt comfortable enough around one person to be himself and show his true colours and that was Shisui. The two had gotten close over the past few years after they discovered that they both were fiercely loyal to their village. They trained together and, once Itachi was able to, they completed missions together. Itachi continued on his way to the hospital while holding down the smirk he was so tempted of letting the world see as he thought of his best friend.

* * *

The last thing Sakura saw were Shisui's teary blood red eyes spinning. As soon as she looked into his eyes, her world shifted and she was sitting in a field of white lilies. The sun was shining down on her while birds circled above and all she could feel was a warmth inside of her like she was finally at peace. She basked in the sun for a while, simply listening to nature around her and enjoying life.

She didn't know how long she just laid down on the grass, but it felt like hours had passed before she stood up. Her mind automatically went into panic mode at the fact that her leg didn't hurt at all. Her heart began racing as a feeling of terror crept up through her body sending chills down her spine. At that moment, she could feel that something was terribly wrong and the world shifted away from flowers in the field to her hospital room.

She looked around the room and saw Shisui walking towards her bed with food containers. She shifted her gaze to look him in the eyes and saw the familiar onyx coloured eyes she had grown used to seeing for the past week. His eyes held a warmth which immediately calmed her down and she felt safe - even the tendril monster wouldn't be able to get to her with her knight in shining armour around.

Sakura also felt a second familiar chakra signature in the hallway, coming towards her room. It was not as warm like Shisui's; it was cool and sharp. While Shisui's chakra seemed to engulf her, and form a protective cocoon, this other felt like a reassuring presence, like a gentle hand on your shoulder set there for reassurance, letting you know that you are not alone.

A young boy walked through the room door; he had long black hair tied in a low ponytail, onyx eyes and held himself proudly. She could tell this boy was confident and powerful just by his posture; she also saw a very brief flash of sympathy in his eyes but it was gone less than one second later. Sakura tried to find a hint of emotion in his eyes thereafter but couldn't for the life of her, it was as if he blocked himself off from the world completely.

"Princess, this is Itachi, the cousin I was telling you about. He was on my team when we saved you." Shisui told the girl as he handed her one of the food containers. She accepted the food happily, took one bite of her fried rice and looked at the newcomer.

"Hi Itachi-san, it's nice to meet you. My name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura." She introduced herself with pride - she absolutely loved meeting new people, it was a chance for her to make a new friend. She had already doubled her friend count with the addition of Shisui; the thought of getting a third friend was thrilling.

Itachi hummed in agreement; he was never much of a talker when meeting someone new, even if this child was close to his brother's age. The first thing he had noticed when he walked through the door were bright emerald eyes and cotton candy pink hair. The two colours were such an oddly beautiful combination that he was frozen speechless until Shisui nudged him out of his daze.

Sakura continued eating her food in silence as she watched the two boys settle down with their own containers. Shisui sat down at the end of her bed with his legs crossed, facing her - like he usually did - and Itachi sat down on the plastic chair next to the bed while shooting curious glances at Shisui. Shisui was always mindful and sat next to her good leg in order to not accidentally jostle the shattered leg. She looked at her friend and could tell that he was itching to say something, but was hesitating. His eyes met hers and she silently implored him to say something and smiled brightly when he nodded his head while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Umm... when we came in, there was a flare of chakra. What happened?" Shisui silently asked, genuinely curious as to how this child broke free of his genjutsu; granted it wasn't a very powerful one, but a genjutsu cast by a sharingan nonetheless.

"I remember looking at your eyes, but they were red." At this, Itachi focused his attention on her, ignoring his food. "Then I woke up in a field of white flowers, it was so peaceful. But when I stood up, my leg didn't hurt. I shouldn't have been able to stand up, so I panicked and woke up in this room. I guess I woke up from the dream."

Shisui's smile was so bright, Itachi couldn't help but give a small smile. The younger boy felt inexplicable pride for the girl, being able to break out of the genjutsu without actively thinking about it. She was able to realize that something was wrong and subconsciously disrupt her chakra flow enough to break free. It may have just been a fluke, but it was still a remarkable feat for a child so young.

Shisui quickly went to sit down next to Sakura and engulfed her in a bear hug, causing the girl's eyes to widen and blush furiously. He pulled away after several seconds and spoke as he brought his hand up to the top of her head "You're amazing princess! I put you under a genjutsu to stop your nightmare and you broke free of it on your own!".

Shisui ruffled Sakura's hair and noticed that the girl's smile was the brightest it had ever been, with tears gathering in her eyes and she quickly brought both her hands up and put them on top of Shisui's, holding his hand on top of her head. She sobbed quietly and guided Shisui's hand to ruffle her hair some more, all the while feeling elated at the gesture.

"I'm sorry princess, I didn't mean to make you cry." Shisui exclaimed, quite unsure of what to do in this situation.

"I-I-It's ok… you did nothing wrong, I just...it means so much to me. My aunt and uncle used to…" She trailed off with a watery smile and sniffling.

Shisui understood that the simple gesture of ruffling her hair actually meant the world to her, so he continued to do so and pulled her in for another hug. It was clear to him that Sakura craved simple touches and hugs that her aunt and uncle could no longer give her.

Itachi sat, feeling oddly like he was intruding on a special moment, and looked out the window while they finished up. He noticed Shisui turning his head in his direction and chanced a look at his cousin. The relief and adoration shone through Shisui, who had a few tears running down his cheek. Itachi felt a pang of jealousy at Shisui's ease of expressing himself, not afraid to show weakness to himself and now this pink haired girl. His only thought was of his father's stern reaction if he was to ever show any weakness and sighed sadly.

* * *

Itachi had left a few hours after getting to the hospital, claiming he had some shopping to do with his family, for which Shisui teased him and surprisingly, Sakura added in a few jabs, having felt that Itachi could be considered a friend. Itachi had sighed, stating that Shisui was a bad influence for her, but she just shot back a bright, mischievous smile which warmed Itachi's heart.

Shisui stayed with Sakura for another hour before having to go on a short mission. He promised her that he would be back the next day and he would bring a book on genjutsu with him so she could have varied reading material.

He ruffled her hair one last time before leaving, at which she told him to be safe. He walked down the hall and saw her doctor walking towards him. He stopped to talk to the doctor to get an update on her situation.

"She's doing a lot better, her injuries have all healed enough for her to be discharged next week, with the exception of her leg but there's nothing we can do for that. I highly doubt she will ever be able to use the leg given the extent of the damage. The bones that shattered pierced her muscles and cartilage which is irreparable with our skillset. It may be best that we amputate the leg so she won't be in constant pain."

"No! I mean, I can talk to her about it, but I don't think she would be alright with that." Shisui stated, horrified that they could even think of cutting off his princess' leg - she would never become a shinobi if she was missing a leg.

"I mean no offense, but I think this would be a decision for her and her parents to make. Not an Uchiha that has nothing to do civilians." The doctor stated as he left Shisui standing in the hallway.

Shisui took a moment to scold himself for taking charge of the girl when she still had parents - parents that were out of town and had no idea what had happened to their daughter. He hoped her parents would be arriving soon, but the way Sakura had spoken, they would only arrive in two weeks time at the earliest, which meant that she would be discharged before they returned home.

He tried his best to prepare for his mission and not get worried about Sakura. It was his first time leaving the village since he had saved her, and he didn't like it - he didn't like leaving her alone - so he made his way to the Uchiha leader's house before leaving for his mission. He knocked on the door and a beautiful woman answered with a warm smile on her face.

"Shisui-kun, how nice of you to stop by. Did you want to join us for dinner?"

"I can't today aunt Mikoto, I have to speak to Itachi before I leave for my mission, is he in?"

"He should be out in the yard training. Tell him to be at the table in 10 minutes and to make sure Sasuke is all cleaned up!" The Uchiha matriarch told him as he headed to the yard where he and Itachi spent a lot of their time training together.

He spotted Itachi trying to meditate with Sasuke in the middle of the open field; only Sasuke was fidgeting constantly, not used to sitting still for more than 5 minutes. Shisui stopped and made sure his chakra was completely masked before he put his plan into action. He created a shadow clone and sent him slowly walking towards Itachi, with its chakra not completely masked. When the clone was a quarter of the way to Itachi, Shisui body flickered in front of his cousin and reached out to poke his forehead - something Itachi always did to Sasuke - in order to take the lead in their game.

Itachi disappeared from in front of him, so Shisui did the next best thing and dropped flat to the ground and turned onto his back in time to see Itachi's hand above him. Shisui snickered as he looked at Itachi in the eyes and congratulated him on sensing him.

"Nii-san, you're done meditating?!" Sasuke exclaimed as he climbed onto Itachi's back.

"For now, yes, seeing as Shisui interrupted me" Itachi mock scolded as he stood up and held onto Sasuke's legs.

"Your mother said to be in the house in 10 minutes and to make sure Sasuke gets washed up. Also… if it's not too much to ask for, Itachi, can you check up on Sakura until I come back?" Shisui asked shyly. Itachi looked at his cousin with one eyebrow slightly raised - a clear sign of utter confusion for Itachi.

"Aren't you coming back in less than 24 hours?"

"Yeah, but I'd feel a lot better if I knew… if I know you would check in on her. I-I just… I just worry about her being alone." Shisui stammered out but noticed the smirk that made its way onto his cousin's face.

"I'll go see her tonight and tomorrow morning." Itachi reassured Shisui.

"Who are you going to go see?" Sasuke chimed in, his curiosity piqued.

"She's a young girl who's in the hospital and can't go home yet." Shisui informed his younger cousin.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She was hurt, but she's getting better, the doctors are helping her. She should be good to go home next week." Shisui informed his cousins with an ear to ear grin.

They reached the back door and Itachi kneeled down to let Sasuke get off his back. Sasuke stood in front of his brother, looking at the floor and kicking the ground with his feet shyly. He looked up into his brother's eyes and said "Can I go see her with you nii-san?" wanting to stick by his brother's side at all times.

Itachi brought up his hand and poked Sasuke's forehead "I'm sorry Sasuke, maybe next time. I promised your mother you would be in bed earlier tonight."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead and scowled at his brother. "You always say that." He turned around and ran into the house to go wash up before the meal.

Itachi straightened up and watched Sasuke leave with a twinge of guilt. He didn't like denying Sasuke anything, but he always did it with Sasuke's best interest in mind. If Itachi brought Sasuke to meet Sakura, he would always want to go to the hospital and his father would not approve of Sasuke having non Uchiha friends, especially not a civilian.

"I'll be leaving now, thanks again Tachi-chan." Shisui said happily as he slapped Itachi back before body flickering away.

Itachi's eyebrow was twitching at the name Shisui had called him. A few years ago, Shisui had begun calling him 'Tachi-chan' to get a rise out of him; at first Itachi had ignored it and pretended it didn't bother him. Shisui kept calling him that and eventually, Itachi's eyebrow developed an automatic twitch every time he heard that name.

* * *

Sakura had finished reading her book about poisons and was getting ready to reread the theory on chakra when she felt Itachi nearing her room. She waited, and smiled when he stopped just before her door and knocked.

"You can come in Itachi-san"

Itachi slowly opened the door and walked into the room. He looked incredibly unsure of what to do once inside and Sakura had to stifle her laughter for fear of making him even more uncomfortable. He looked around the room, frequently stopping his gaze out the window.

"I-I was going to read one of my books again. I don't know all the words, there are some pretty difficult one. D-do you think you could help me with them?" She asked quietly, hoping to make him more comfortable. She glanced at him and saw that he was looking at her with the smallest hint of a smile on his face, which helped Sakura relax.

Itachi hummed in agreement and took a seat on the plastic chair that remained beside the girl's bed. She opened her book and began flipping through the pages, searching for a specific chapter she was having some difficulties with the other day.

For the next few hours, Sakura read through her book and occasionally asked Itachi to help with the pronunciation and definition of certain words. At first, Itachi stayed sitting in the chair, but after a while Sakura insisted he sit on her bed to make it easier.

Itachi was very hesitant, seeing as he never got close enough to anyone aside from Sasuke, his mother and Shisui for physical contact, but once he sat on the bed, Sakura made sure to not brush up against him. She seemed to respect his silent request for personal space which he appreciated very much.

After a few hours of reading, Sakura started drifting off to sleep while reading about a chakra control exercise involving a leaf. Itachi sat back and watched the child's eyes shut more and more until her breathing finally evened out. He slowly reached out and moved the book from her lap, saving her place with her bookmark in the shape of the village insignia. He placed the book on her bed, making sure it stayed within reach so she could grab when she wanted to continue reading it. Before leaving, he glanced back at Sakura and felt bad at her uncomfortable position; she had to either sleep sitting up or read laying down since she couldn't move her leg whenever she wanted. He reached out and pulled the blankets up to better cover her and keep her warm while she slept, then went home, all the while thinking understanding how Shisui managed to get so close to the girl during the past week.

* * *

Shisui finished his mission and quickly ran back to the village as if the devil was chasing him. He trusted Itachi to check up on Sakura, but he still wanted to see her and make sure everything was alright. He felt very silly worrying about her; as he was gone for less than 24 hours, but he couldn't help it, she was just too precious to him.

He had made the eight-hour trek back to the village in five hours and went directly to the hospital, excited to see his princess. He told himself he would check up on her, stay for an hour then go home to sleep; seeing as he'd only had two hours of sleep in the past 35 hours. It was ten in the morning, Itachi would have stopped by to see Sakura two hours ago when visiting hours would have started.

Shisui quickly made his way to Sakura's hospital room, a route he could now do with his eyes closed if he wanted to and entered. He was not expecting to see Itachi sitting with Sakura and talking with her. Sure, Itachi was capable of talking, but he never voluntarily spoke with another human being for more than one sentence. The strangest thing of all was that Sakura was making up a story on the spot and Itachi gave his input to participate in the creative process. Shisui was flabbergasted, his whole world had been turned upside down in the matter of seconds. His eyes bled red to release the genjutsu - this was the only explanation as to why Itachi was acting the way he was - but nothing happened.

Sakura and Itachi had stopped discussing the possibilities of animals developing intricate chakra networks more advanced than humans and subsequently gaining control of the world to look at Shisui's shocked expression. Sakura burst out laughing while Itachi smirked, laughing at their friend's expense.

"What… what… why… how did… what the hell is going on here?" Shisui stammered out, not quite sure what he wanted to ask them, but determined to find out if this was actually a genjutsu that could not be dispelled by the sharingan.

"Whatever do you mean dear cousin?" Itachi teased Shisui. The latter sharply turned his head towards Itachi, bewildered expression fixed on his face.

"I'm sorry Shisui-san. I couldn't help it." Sakura managed to say between her fits of giggles, which only served to confused Shisui even more.

"It was Sakura's idea to pull a prank on you, she claims it would be a nice welcome home surprise for you." Itachi explained, not fully wanting to tell his cousin that he actually enjoyed going along with Sakura's plan. He had never really pulled a fast one on anyone before and the enjoyment he got from it served to make him even more at ease with the two others currently in the room with him.

Shisui silently walked over to Sakura's bed and sat down next to her. He tried to keep a straight face, not wanting to encourage her for her prank, but the light dancing in her eyes was enough to crack even the most stoic Uchiha; Shisui grinned silly before ruffling Sakura's hair. Her plan was actually pretty unbelievable when he stopped to think about it. She had managed to get Itachi of all people to go along with a prank - he still couldn't believe Itachi had done something so out of character, no one would ever believe him if he ever tried to tell the story.

Itachi made his way to the other side of Sakura's bed and leaned - he actually leaned - on the bed while Shisui kept messing up Sakura's hair as she laughed with glee. Itachi's hand twitched, he was tempted to ruffle Sakura's hair, she truly was the easiest child to take a liking to. She was remarkably mature for a six year old, and could easily read the people around her. He had noticed her leaning towards him when he was helping her with her reading, but she always caught herself before she would touch him and created more space between them.

Before leaving, Shisui took out a scroll and unsealed a book he had bought during his mission. He gave Sakura a book on medical ninjutsu, stating that he couldn't find any book on genjutsu, so he got her a different book that also required excellent chakra control. He knew she was a natural just by the fact that she was already able to sense another person's chakra fairly well. She was a bit confused at first, but accepted the book nonetheless; it was a new subject she could spend her waking hours devouring.

Two days after Shisui returned from his mission, he and Itachi were called to the Hokage tower along with Shiranui Genma and Hatake Kakashi for an ANBU mission. The first thought Shisui had when he heard about the mission was Sakura; he would be away from the village for 2 weeks. The team was to meet at the gates in 4 hours, which left him next to no time to figure out what he could do for the girl. If memory served him right, she was to be discharged from the hospital within the week and her parents weren't back from their business trip, which meant that she would have no way of getting home.

Shisui went home to pack for his extended mission, and arrived at the hospital 45 minutes after leaving the Hokage tower; 3 hours and 15 minutes left before departure. He went to see Sakura's doctor who was obviously occupied with another patient for an entire hour. Shisui tried to reel in his irritation when he saw the doctor leave the patient's room with a grin on his face. It didn't help that Shisui saw a young woman adjusting her skirt with flushed cheeks. He body flickered in front of the doctor, adamant that he would get his attention for Sakura's sake.

"Doctor," he started "I was wondering if it would be possible for me to bring Sakura home today."

"You are not one of her parents, so I cannot simply discharge her without their permission" the doctor stated blatantly.

"Her parents are still out of the village and won't return for another couple of weeks. I am the one taking care of her, but-"

"Hospital regulations, I cannot discharge a patient without parental care. Definitely not to a child" The doctor spat out sharply before he turned to walk the other direction.

Shisui's anger was reaching his tipping point due to the blatant rejection and his inability to help Sakura. He took a deep breath and activated his mangekyou sharingan and focused on the doctor who was walking away quickly.

"You will release Sakura into my charge right this moment." Shisui nearly growled out.

The doctor stopped in his tracks and finally looked at Shisui and said "I will sign the discharge papers and bring them to her room immediately."

Shisui let the smirk on his face grow as he walked towards Sakura's room, feeling a bit silly that he had to resort to his visual prowess for such a small task, but he didn't have time to argue, he had to be at the front gates in just under two hours.

He felt for Sakura's chakra and smiled when he felt it was relaxed; it didn't happen often but once in awhile she wasn't scared out of her mind due to her nightmares. He walked through the door and felt a strange warmth when he saw her ridiculously big smile aimed at him.

"Shisui-san!" Sakura exclaimed "Thank you so much for the book, I love it!"

Shisui simply walked up to his princess and ruffled her hair as he sat down on her bed. He faced her and studied her face; she had small bags under her eyes - they were just barely noticeable if you stood close to her, but still there - which was not good for a child her age. He was saddened that he was not able to help her through her nightmares during the night, but relished in the fact that he would be there for her after his mission.

"Princess, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come right out and say it ok?" At this, Sakura gave him a curious yet worried look. Dammit, he didn't pick the right words, he should have given it more thought as to how to word everything. "It's just that… well, your parents aren't back yet, and probably won't be back for a couple of weeks, right?" he asked the girl. She nodded slowly which prompted him to continue. He took a deep breath and rushed his next sentence "The doctor said you would be discharged within the week and I won't be here because I have a mission, but I can bring you home today- right now if you're ready to go."

Sakura stared at him for what felt like an eternity before she shyly looked down at her leg and gave a light nod. She looked up at Shisui with a small smile, teary eyes and choked out "I'd like that but...but what about my leg? Won't it hurt if I move it? I can't… I can't even walk on it."

"We'll figure it out. We'll make it work, trust me." Shisui assured the girl, determined to cause her the least amount of pain possible, but aware of the fact that it would be an unpleasant trip home for her.

After the doctor had Shisui sign the discharge papers, and had given Sakura crutches along with pain killers, the Uchiha and pink haired child attempted the walk back to Sakura's house. At first, Shisui tried to carry her bridal style but that was quickly shot down when he touched her leg and she whimpered in pain. The only reasonable way of carrying her was to hold her close to his chest, and her chin resting on his shoulder.

The walk was slow going, and Shisui resigned his fate that he would be late to meet his team at the gates - their captain was going to be at least an hour late anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Sakura kept quiet on the way home, trying her best to ease the pain in her leg, but Shisui felt every twitch and every wince the child made along the way. He talked to her about everything and nothing to try to distract her, and even managed to make her laugh a few times; mostly when he pretended to speak like Itachi - well more like a robot than Itachi but it worked.

The two arrived at Sakura's house when Shisui was an hour and fifteen minutes late for meeting his team at the gates, but he didn't bat an eye; he was just so happy that Sakura was finally home. The house was two storeys tall and fairly large which helped Shisui make the decision that Sakura would have to be set up on the first floor so she could have access to the kitchen.

He went to her room and grabbed her mattress, blankets, pillows and the stuffed wolf that was laying on her bed and brought it downstairs. He set up her bed between the bathroom and the kitchen - basically in the hallway - and helped her in it. He brought her crutches over and at her insistence he left to meet his team, all the while reassuring him that she would be alright; she could crawl to the bathroom and the kitchen if needed. He did take out all the food in the cupboards and placed them on the ground so she wouldn't have to throw things to knock food to the ground.

He reluctantly left Sakura's house after he made sure she had access to every possible thing she could want or need for the next four weeks, in the event that his mission ran longer than expected. He made his way to the front gates of the village and noticed that his captain was there; which Shisui was already expecting, seeing as he was two and a half hours late.

"Goddammit Shisui! What the fuck took you so long, even Kakashi beat you here." Genma blurted out when Shisui body flickered next to him.

"Well you see," Shisui started, "I rescued a princess from her prison, then I had to escort her back to her humble abode and ensure she was safe from the monsters and dragons." When he finished, Shisui glanced at Itachi and could visibly see his cousin fighting the smirk that threatened to creep onto his face.

"That's… that's even less believable than Kakashi's excuses. You expect us to believe you saved a princess in the village? I know your nickname is shunshin no Shisui, but… seriously? Next time you should think of a more believable lie" Genma said incredulously as all four ANBU members left the village.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Turns out this chapter would have been way bigger than my previous chapters, but it would have taken another few weeks to publish it, so I decided to split it in half and publish the first part now :)**

 **I should be able to publish the second half in the next week or two hopefully.**

 **Let me know what you liked/disliked so far in this story, I would love o hear from you guys seeing as this is the first story I have ever written.**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

It was the middle of the night when the four ANBU members returned from their two week long mission. Fortunately, the injuries sustained during the mission were not critical, in fact they were more mentally distraught than physically injured. The mission they had been sent on was to stop a child sex trafficking ring set up by a group of missing nins. They managed to destroy one of their bases but they also discovered that there were approximately 3 more throughout Fire country. The youngest children they had found were Sakura and Sasuke's age, to which Shisui and Itachi felt sick to their stomachs. The four ANBU had spent two days travelling, four days setting up their ambush, two days executing it, and four more days rescuing the children and bringing them to a refuge. The run back had been long seeing as they were all exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally.

As soon as they arrived in Konoha, Shisui and Itachi split off from Kakashi and Genma, happy to finally get to sleep in a bed tonight. Shisui had been wanting to see Sakura the moment he left the village, nervous about how she would take care of herself while he was gone since she couldn't use her leg. He motioned to Itachi to follow him, and they both ran on the rooftops to get to Sakura's house.

They were walking up to her house when they heard Sakura screaming inside. Shisui reacted instantly and climbed through the window in the kitchen he had left slightly open before leaving for his mission.

Sakura was laying on her mattress with the blankets thrown everywhere around her as she clawed at her neck to remove an invisible hand around her throat. Her screams intensified as she thrashed around, unwillingly jostling her bandaged leg. Shisui shook Sakura's shoulder to wake her up, but it didn't work, she was completely ensnared in her nightmare. The screaming changed to shrieking then sobbing as Shisui kept trying to wake her up without hurting her.

Itachi stood by as he watched his cousin struggle and fail to wake the girl up. His heart went out to his cousin, not envying the amount of worry that was evident in Shisui's actions. Itachi took a few steps towards Sakura, knelt down and nudged Shisui to get his attention. When Shisui looked at Itachi with his sharingan active, Itachi knew he had to step in. He activated his own sharingan, got closer to Sakura and hoped that his plan was going to work. As soon as he forced open her eyelids, she choked in a huge breath of air and widened her eyes. Itachi was relieved that he didn't have to go through with his plan; he wasn't looking forward to forcing a genjutsu on the child when she was having a nightmare, there was always the chance that the nightmare would carry through with the genjutsu and offer no relief.

Shisui rushed to hold Sakura and pet her hair, reassuring her that everything was alright and that she was safe. This was the first time Shisui witnessed the girl having a nightmare, and now that he took the time to look at her, he noticed scratches on her face, neck and arms; most likely self-inflicted judging by what he just saw.

He felt Sakura shivering in his arms, so he stepped back to put the blankets back on her while Itachi retrieved her stuffed wolf that she had thrown across the room. Shisui watched as Sakura loosened the bandages that were wrapped from her upper thigh to her ankle and let out a hiss of pain. She then carefully wrapped the bandages back very tightly which seemed to relieve some pain. The two Uchiha tucked the girl back into bed while Shisui sat down next to her after which Sakura promptly snuggled up to him.

"Thank you … Shisui-san... Itachi-san." She muttered as she drifted off to sleep.

Itachi had noticed the growing bags under her eyes but elected not to tell Shisui - he was certain Shisui had noticed with the amount of attention he had bestowed upon her. The girl was severely lacking sleep due to her nightmares and it seemed like it was getting worse each night. The fact that she fell back asleep instantly attested to that fact.

"Head home Tachi, I'll stay here." Shisui whispered gently not to wake up the sleeping kid.

Itachi was torn on what to do. He could go home, take a quick shower to wash off the buildup of dirt, sweat and blood that accumulated over the past few days, or he could stay with the two and make sure Shisui took care of himself because he was sure as all hell certain that Shisui would focus solely on Sakura.

"I'm staying" was Itachi's short reply. Shisui glanced up at his cousin and gave him a small smile; he understood what Itachi was doing and he appreciated it.

Itachi was the first to go take a shower. When he came downstairs in a short sleeve shirt sporting the Uchiha emblem, he warmed at the sight of Sakura curled into Shisui's side resting peacefully. He finally noticed the shirt that the child was wearing; an oversized Uchiha long sleeved shirt - he assumed Shisui had given it to her at some point. He walked over to Shisui who was struggling to stay awake and said "I'll keep her company".

Shisui was speechless and beaming with pride. Itachi had accepted Sakura as someone precious.

He carefully untangled himself from Sakura's grasp and watched as Itachi sat next to Sakura. To him, the sight of Itachi smiling softly and resting his hand on Sakura's head was undoubtedly one of the best moments of his life.

* * *

Sakura woke up feeling well rested for the first time since, well since her aunt and uncle were murdered. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and seeing Shisui and Itachi, but after falling asleep she had a peaceful, dreamless sleep. She stretched her arms and hit something hard with her elbow.

"I think you woke him up, Princess." Shisui chuckled.

She opened her eyes and saw that she had inadvertently hit Itachi who had been sleeping next to her. Turning her head, she noticed Shisui was on the other side of her.

"Did you put me under a genjutsu again Shisui-san?" Sakura asked.

"No, why?" Shisui asked, thoroughly confused.

"I slept pretty nicely. I didn't have a nightmare, so I thought you chased it away with your eyes again."

"No, I didn't do any of that. We just stayed with you the entire night to make sure you'd be alright" Shisui informed her.

Sakura dragged herself towards Shisui and hugged him fiercely at which he patted her head. She then turned around and looked at Itachi, unsure if she should give him a hug as well. Itachi surprised her by smiling and giving a small nod. She didn't waste any time and hugged the stoic Uchiha.

Shisui watched as Sakura hugged Itachi and noticed his cousin's hand give a slight twitch, as if he was debating reciprocating the gesture. He looked on as Itachi's resolve to remain emotionless crumbled and he wrapped an arm around Sakura.

Sakura snuggled into the hug even more and let out a breath, relieved that Itachi was hugging her back. She loved easily - sometimes too easily - because not many people wanted to spend time with her. Children never wanted to play with her and she didn't know why.

She had a big heart and gave a part of it to the people who became precious to her, which had only been her family until Shisui and Itachi came into her life. She still felt the heartache of losing her aunt and uncle, and she feared it would never go away. All she could do was love more people than the amount of pieces of her heart that were missing.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I think Itachi needs to go home to his family."

Sakura pulled away from Itachi with a slight flush, happy to officially be accepted by the young boy. She bid Itachi farewell as he left and turned her attention to Shisui who remained relaxed beside her.

"Shouldn't you be going home too?" she asked

"I can spare a bit more time before leaving. I did miss you quite a bit Princess." Shisui informed her. "I was actually wondering how your leg is, it didn't seem as bad as it was before I left." At this, Sakura slowly turned to grab her medical book to explain.

She was able to move around - albeit slowly - without being in crippling pain, which was a huge improvement since being released from the hospital. She had poured over her new book with exceptional fervor and had been enraptured by the section that detailed methods with and without chakra that could be used to reduce pain. She began wrapping her leg up with bandages on the first day of Shisui's absence and was able to crawl around to get to the kitchen and bathroom.

Seeing as her mattress was flat on the floor, it was extremely difficult for her to get up from the floor. She had tried a few times but always instinctively using her shattered leg when she lost balance and was about to fall. She stopped trying to stand up on the second day since she passed out from the pain whenever she put weight on her leg.

The pain was still agonizing, but it was more manageable even if she accidentally moved her leg around while crawling or dragging herself from room to room.

One problem Sakura had for the past two weeks was washing up. She spent a few hours every few days doing her best to wash herself with a washcloth since she wasn't able to use the bathtub. It was the least favorite part of her day and she even contemplated not washing until her parents returned. She shot down that idea when she realized that her parents could take a few more weeks to arrive, but nonetheless, she kept hoping her parents would come back home soon so she could get a proper bath.

She was only able to lessen the pain from a 10 to a 9.5 when she wrapped her leg tightly. A little reprieve from the torture felt amazing and did wonders for her mental health. She wanted to try sending chakra to her leg as she had read that it could reduce the pain by blocking the nerve endings from transmitting pain signals to the brain, but she did not have enough chakra or knowledge on how to use it to attempt it.

The longer the nightmares plagued her, the more she lost sleep. It was getting difficult trying to discern what was a nightmare and what was reality since she was constantly haunted by her deceased loved ones and the two missing nins. One moment she would see her aunt sitting in her rocking chair in the living room, and the next moment her aunt would have a hole through her chest and be covered in blood.

Sakura had spent many hours crying in her bed, terrified of shadows and hallucinations around her. She knew her mental state was deteriorating the more she spent time alone, but she really had no one other than Shisui, Itachi, her parents and her cousin - all of whom were out of town.

At least now she had Shisui and Itachi so she tried to put all of her negative thoughts and fears away, locking the metaphorical door to that section of her mind. She would try to keep all the bad memories away and replace them with good ones and maybe one day, she would be able to sleep peacefully on her own.

"You're pretty amazing you know that Sakura-chan?" Shisui complimented. She truly did remind him of Itachi. To Shisui, Sakura was a genius in more ways than one and had so much potential as a shinobi. Unfortunately he didn't think she could ever reach her full potential seeing as her leg would always be her weakness and hold her back.

Shisui made breakfast for the girl; a simple meal of crepes, chocolate syrup and fruit. It was the first home cooked meal Sakura had eaten since her birthday and it was marvelous. The energy she exerted crawling around her house left her constantly hungry and the food within her reach wasn't filling enough to satisfy her hunger. She stuffed her face and ended up eating more than Shisui which caused the boy to laugh hysterically - a pint sized girl out ate him, a growing teenage boy.

"I think we need to get you more food since you ate everything Princess!" Shisui teased with a massive grin. She flushed a pink bright enough to rival her hair which only caused Shisui's grin to widen.

He bent down and picked her up gently, hugging her tightly. Against her protests, he put her clothes in the laundry and cleaned up around the house - all the while maneuvering her around and making sure she was holding on to him.

Shisui was having the time of his life, simply enjoying the little things he never really paid attention to. As Sakura's laughter rang throughout the house and she kept playing with his hair, he felt like he never wanted moments like this to end. With Sakura, he was not expected to kill anyone and didn't have to deal with all the clan political bullshit. He was just Shisui.

* * *

The two had spent the day going around town together. Sakura was sitting atop of Shisui's shoulders smiling brightly, finally able to feel the sun on her skin. It felt like she was walking through town with her father; he would frequently let her ride on his shoulders, allowing her to see more than what she was used to. She felt a pang of worry for her parents and cousin since they had not returned yet, but she had gotten used to that feeling by now.

Her parents were one week and four days late. Every time she awoke in the house to a noise, she hoped it was her family returning, and at times she had hoped her aunt and uncle would be with them. However, they still hadn't arrived.

"Anywhere else you want to go before the sun sets?" Shisui asked, interrupting her worried thoughts.

"No. I think I'd like to go home and see if my parents are there." Sakura whispered softly.

Shisui felt a pang of worry at Sakura's soft voice. He could hear the heartbreak already starting at the possibility of losing the rest of her family. He told her to hang on tight as he body flickered back to Sakura's house.

He put Sakura down on the kitchen counter after they had thoroughly checked the house to see if anyone had arrived - and by thoroughly checked, Sakura shouted for her parents for five minutes. He put the food they had gotten at the market away and started cooking for the both of them, to which Sakura praised him for being so amazing. Shisui tried to pass it off as nothing but he wasn't used to being praised and his cheeks flushed a light pink which prompted Sakura to start teasing him. Her mood had lightened which was all Shisui could ask for. All he hoped was that he could distract her enough until her parents arrived.

They ate as Shisui told her as much as he could about his latest mission. He purposely kept out the part about the sex trafficking and the men he killed, and instead focused on the landscape and the run to their destination. He had always loved the travelling part of his missions, where he could feel nature all around him - he especially loved running through the forest in Fire country.

Sakura was entranced by his travels. After Shisui had finished talking, her eyes were downcast and she muttered something too low for Shisui to hear.

"What is it Princess?" He inquired.

"Do you think I'll ever be able to run through the trees like you?" She asked quietly, not sure what to expect as an answer.

"I'll be honest with you Sakura-chan" hearing him say her name, and not calling her Princess immediately got her attention. He rarely ever said her name - this was probably the second or third time since he had saved her - but it gave off an air of seriousness she was not used to associating with Shisui. "I think you can become a shinobi, but it won't be easy. You'll have to find a way to either use your leg, or compensate for it. You probably shouldn't tell anyone about your leg either, or else I'm sure a lot of people will try their hardest to keep you from your dream. But remember that being a shinobi will be the most difficult thing you will do in your life, because your leg will always slow you down and be your weakness. But I believe in you" He finished with a heartwarming grin.

Sakura was speechless. Shisui was being 100% honest with her, and he believed that she could still become a shinobi. Her. A girl with a crippled leg. Tears gathered in her eyes but she did her best to stop them from falling as her grin widened. She rubbed her eyes with her palms and spluttered a thank you to her best friend. Yes, that's what he was. Her best friend.

"So we'll be able to run through the trees together eventually?" She asked

"Of course!" Shisui told her while picking her up from her seat, "I'll help you get better in any way I can."

Sakura was crying tears of joy as he held her close. The simple fact that he thought she was still able to become a shinobi and that he was willing to help made her made her day. Until today, Sakura was sure there was no way she would be able to become a shinobi since she couldn't use one of her leg.

The front door opened and interrupted Sakura and Shisui's moment. Sakura's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat "Pa...pa?" she breathed out softly. She wasn't going to get her hopes up and expect her family to have arrived home. She half expected this to be another hallucination and she would witness everyone get killed again.

"Sakura-chan? We're home" Came her mother's voice. Sakura froze. No one ever spoke actual words in her hallucinations, there were only blood curdling screams and muffled voices. She slowly realized that her parents were in fact home from their business trip.

Sakura didn't know if she should be excited that her family was home or sad because of the news she had to give them. Her heart began beating faster by the second, wanting to avoid the confrontation with her parents and cousin.

"Sakura-chan, who is that?" her father inquired as he stepped into the kitchen.

Sakura was staring intently into Shisui's eyes and they both saw the flash of fear that passed through each of their eyes. They didn't know how Sakura's parents would react to a teenage boy being in the house alone with Sakura.

Sakura turned around to face her parents while staying in Shisui's arms. "Mama, Papa, Takeshi-kun!" She exclaimed when she saw them. Shisui moved closer to her father and handed the little girl to the man.

Shisui stood back and watched the girl's father hug and kiss her fiercely; he could see the relief in his eyes now that she was no longer in Shisui's arms. Sakura's mother stood to the side and patted the girl's head affectionately while holding the other child's hand - Takeshi's, Shisui deduced.

Takeshi appeared to be slightly older than Itachi, but younger than himself and was standing to the side, looking around the house as if searching for someone. It dawned on Shisui that this must be Sakura's cousin; the one who was unknowingly an orphan now.

"Papa… mama… this is Shisui" Sakura stated as she pointed to the teenager. "He's been helping me these past few weeks because…" She didn't know how she was supposed to explain what had happened on her birthday to her remaining family. Luckily - or unluckily, depending on which way you look at it - Takeshi interjected.

"Where's mother and father?"

Sakura looked over at Takeshi, tears falling freely down her cheeks as she put her hand on the young boy's head. "They… they were. We were attacked." Sakura hesitated and hoped that she didn't have to elaborate right now. She was an abnormally emotional girl and having just been reunited with her family, she didn't think she would be coherent if she tried to explain everything. She was a crying mess and the more she thought of having to talk about the events during her birthday, the more she lost it.

Haruno Kizashi was trying to comfort his little angel but to no avail; she was inconsolable and he wasn't sure why. It suddenly dawned on him as to why a stranger was in the house with Sakura when his brother and sister-in-law were not present. His eyes widened in realization and he turned to Shisui who was looking at Sakura intently, fighting back tears of his own.

"Mebuki-chan, can you go with Takeshi and get his things from his house please?" Kizashi asked quietly. Mebuki looked over to her husband when she heard his quiet plea and saw the pain in his eyes as he struggled to keep his composure in front of the two children. She had only seen her husband react that way once before; when his mother had passed away.

Mebuki didn't hesitate to coax Takeshi into coming with her, trying to ease the child's mind by asking him to stay over because Sakura had missed them all dearly. Takeshi wasn't an idiot; he suspected something had happened to his parents but wasn't sure what exactly.

When Mebuki and Takeshi left the house to go next door to Takeshi's home, Sakura asked to be held by Shisui which surprised Kizashi a great deal; she always wanted to be held by her father. But Shisui had more experience manoeuvring the girl and her injured leg, so he placed Sakura gently onto the couch while the girl tried her best to hold back her sobs. She knew she was the one that had to break the news to her family and felt more confident that she would be capable of doing so if only her father was present.

It's not that she didn't love her mother, it's just that her father was somewhat more understanding of her choice to become a shinobi seeing as his brother had become one. Her mother had always opposed the idea of her little girl becoming a shinobi and laying her life on the line for her village; there were plenty of men that would be stronger than most women so it made sense that they protect the village and the women stayed home. It didn't help that Sakura had always been a smaller than average child which only served to reinforce Mebuki's thoughts that her child would not be cut out for a life of physical challenges.

Sakura managed to stop crying enough to explain - without going into too much detail - the events of her birthday. She had never seen her father cry before and it broke her heart to see a grown man torn apart by the loss of a loved one. She mentally patted herself on the back for only giving a brief overview of what transpired - they were attacked by strong shinobi, and ANBU didn't make it in time to save all three of them. Sakura then explained Shisui's role in everything from his team saving her, his caring for her when she was in the hospital and his near constant presence every day he was in the village.

Even though Kizashi sort of understood Sakura's desire to become a shinobi, he disliked most shinobi he encountered; especially those from clans. It seemed that the bigger the clan, the more power hungry and arrogant the shinobi were so it came as a big surprise to him that Shisui had been so incredibly helpful to Sakura - she was a clanless child, he shouldn't have even bothered with her.

The fact that Shisui came from the Uchiha clan spoke highly of his character. It was known throughout the village that the Uchiha were power hungry and thought of themselves before the village, which was the opposite of the previous and current Hokages' ideals. Kizashi had heard so much about the Will of Fire from his brother that he frowned upon every shinobi that didn't possess it. When Sakura had first expressed interest in becoming a shinobi, he had asked her what her reasons were. When she told him that she wanted to become a shinobi because her aunt and uncle were shinobi and that she respected them, Kizashi told her that it wasn't a good enough reason. He told his little girl that he would not allow her to become a shinobi until she found her own reason.

At four years old, Sakura knew she wanted to become a shinobi, but she didn't seem to know why. It was the first summer where her parents allowed her to go to the park on her own, which turned out to be the first time she interacted with children her own age. It turned out to be a life lesson for the girl. She had tried hard to make new friends, but to her absolute horror, they all started calling her names, making fun of her forehead and even started to throw rocks at her. She shed many tears during that first summer and wallowed in self-pity, but it was also the summer she figured out why she wanted to become a shinobi.

 _One day she was walking home from the park after having been called every bad word she could think of when she spotted a young boy jogging through the village with a bright smile on his face. She admired and envied his happiness and carefree attitude, since all she could do was cry and feel sorry for herself. However, she saw one of her bullies trip the boy and smile menacingly. Then there were four children about three years older than her surrounding the boy. The bullies called the boy a monster and a freak, saying that no adult could ever love someone as stupid as him._

 _Sakura dried her tears as best she could while trying to figure out how she could help the boy. Something was boiling within her, forcing her to stomp towards the group of children with unprecedented rage. The blond boy managed to squeeze past the bullies and ran towards Sakura, glancing back to see if the others were following him. Sakura saw the moment two of the kids picked up fairly big rocks and threw them at the boy who was looking ahead, not noticing the incoming projectiles. She instinctively tackled the blonde out of the way just as the rocks were about to hit him and received one deep cut on her arm and one big bruise on her leg from the stones._

" _A-a-are you ok? Why did you...?" the little boy stammered._

" _I didn't want you to get hurt, I just did the first thing that came to me." She explained as she held her bleeding arm. The boy kept looking at her like a second head had sprouted from her neck which unnerved her. She heard the bullies walking towards them and stood up on her injured leg in front of the boy._

" _Would you look at that…? Ugly forehead girl is protecting the stupid monster. Maybe we should teach them a lesson, boys." The tallest of the bullies - presumably the leader - called out and his henchmen whooped in agreement all the while picking up any rocks or rotten fruit they found on the ground._

" _Run" Sakura whispered to the whiskered boy. She glanced at him from the side to see that he wasn't moving. He kept looking at her with teary eyes and a broken smile. "Run!" She yelled, effectively snapping the boy out of his reverie._

" _B-but you-" he stumbled as he stood up_

" _Just go!" Sakura gave him a small push to help him along, after which he ran which was all she could ask for. She looked at the bullies and gave a pained smile with teary eyes._

" _You might just be stupider than the monster, idiot girl." The leader laughed all the while cracking his neck and warming up his throwing arm._

 _Sakura stood tall, knowing they would still throw the rocks if she ran; at least this way she would see it coming and hopefully mitigate the damage. She held fast and prepared for the incoming rocks, inadvertently shutting her eyes. She then felt a couple of people standing in front of her and heard the rocks fall to the ground some distance away from her. She slowly opened her eyes only to see the green flak jacket worn by shinobi of the village and a light blue kimono shirt with the Haruno circle on the back. She glanced up and saw the familiar light blonde hair tied into a short ponytail that belonged to her uncle and the light pink-purple hair that undoubtedly belonged to her father._

 _The children quickly ran away when the two adults arrived; they didn't want to be brought to their parents for punishment. Kizashi turned around and gathered his daughter up in his arms to bring her to the hospital for a quick checkup._

 _The two brothers had seen Sakura protect the blonde haired boy - the boy who had the kyuubi sealed inside of him, the village pariah. Kizashi was all choked up, the small display from Sakura reassured him that she truly had what it took to become a shinobi. Her natural instincts to protect those who needed it despite the odds was proof enough that she had found her reason to become a shinobi even if she didn't consciously realize it._

 _He carried Sakura to the hospital, all the while a smile adorned her face, proud of herself for having helped the little boy._

" _Sakura-chan, you will be a fine shinobi" he whispered softly to the girl. They locked eyes and Kizashi didn't think her smile could get any brighter than at that moment. He knew this meant the world to her and he was now confident that she truly wanted to become a shinobi for the right reasons._

"You're a good kid, Shisui. I can't thank you enough for taking care of my little girl after all of this." Kizashi told the teen. Shisui reminded him of Sakura for the simple fact that he protects those who need it and he admired that greatly. He hoped that Shisui would remain a part of her life and help her, now that his brother and sister-in-law were no longer alive.

Shisui scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, he didn't quite know what to say, he never really spoke to parents. He opened his mouth to stammer something out, hopefully it wouldn't sound too awkward, but Sakura's mother and cousin entered the house - he was saved for the time being.

"I've got to be getting back home. Can I… Can I still…" Shisui trailed off, not quite sure how to ask permission to be around Sakura given their seven year age gap.

"No. Sakura is not a shinobi. At least not yet. I refuse to let her be around your kind until I absolutely have to. Now get out." Mebuki seethed. Shisui was taken aback by the hostility of the woman. He was not expecting that at all. He glanced at Sakura and saw the hope in her eyes. He gave her a reassuring nod, hoping that she understood that he would see her again.

After Shisui left, Kizashi and Sakura were left with the task of informing Mebuki and Takeshi of the events of Sakura's birthday. It was an emotional night for the four Harunos, where they spent reminiscing and comforting each other. They all went to sleep in the same bed but didn't manage to fall asleep at all that night.

* * *

The next day was spent planning the funerals that would be held in two days. Kizashi and Mebuki were supposed to leave in a week for their annual trip to Suna, but they managed to push it off for two weeks to stay in Konoha to grieve and help Takeshi move into their house. They were going to have to sell Hiroki and Natsuko's house, seeing as Takeshi was only twelve years old and couldn't live on his own.

Takeshi was taking his parents' death quite well, which was a testament to the fact that he considered Kizashi and Mebuki more like parents. It wasn't that he didn't love his parents, he loved them dearly, but he was rarely around them, and they had grown a bit distant over the past two years when Sakura had expressed a deeper interest in becoming a shinobi. He grieved along with the rest of his family, and insisted that he helped with the funerals. When Sakura heard that all three of them were going to deal with the funeral, she asked to come along with them to which they agreed.

On their way back from meeting the Hokage to go over the funeral arrangements, the Haruno family stopped by the busy market to buy some food to eat. They didn't have any fresh food left in the house, seeing as they had just arrived back from their trip, and Shisui used all the vegetables and meat to cook for himself and Sakura the previous night. Kizashi suggested that everyone choose their favorite dish, as a way to celebrate the life of the two deceased. They had all agreed that it would be a great way to remember them by, and Sakura had chosen her aunt and uncle's favorite dish instead of her own as her own way of remembering them.

Sakura was being carried around by her father while looking for plums to finish off her uncle's favorite dish when she felt Shisui's chakra signature not far from them. Sakura had taken the habit of constantly suppressing her chakra to the level of a civilian as a way to practice her chakra control. Shisui had also told her that it would slowly help her reserves get bigger. She turned to her father and asked "Is it true that I can't see Shisui until I start at the academy?"

Kizashi looked at Sakura and put his hand on her head. "You know how your mother is with shinobi. She doesn't trust them. Not one bit. But Shisui is different, you can see him, just let me know ahead of time. I'll try to explain to your mother and make her understand."

This was the reason that Sakura adored her father. He tried his best to understand his daughter and didn't want to prevent her from doing anything in her life. He had tried his best to shield her from the dark side of shinobi life by entrusting her training with his brother and sister-in-law, and they had done a fantastic job up until their deaths.

Sakura had done her research and knew that shinobi killed and stole and manipulated others for a living, but she chose to look at it a different way. Shinobi protected others. Protected their village at all costs. Even at six years old, she believed that she would be ready to protect others no matter what the situation, no matter what the danger.

"Shisui is less than a block away, do you think we could go see him to explain everything to him?" She asked.

Kizashi was slightly startled at how Sakura knew Shisui's whereabouts, but remembered that Natsuko had taught his daughter how to sense chakra. He responded by moving Sakura so she was sitting on top of his shoulders and told her to point the way. Sakura giggled and assumed the position by lightly grabbing onto her father's hair, using it to guide him along the busy streets.

She spotted Shisui sitting on the rooftop of a small restaurant reading a scroll - oh how she wished she could jump up onto the rooftop and surprise him. She made her father stop near the restaurant and she flared her chakra, hoping he would notice her. Despite the fact that she was comfortable around Shisui, she didn't like attracting attention to herself. If Ino was in her stead, the girl most likely would have just shouted at Shisui to get his attention along with every other person in the vicinity.

Shisui looked down directly at Sakura once she flared her chakra and body flickered in front of the father-daughter duo, with a surprised yet relieved expression.

"Princess!" he exclaimed without thinking. He didn't know if her father was comfortable with the nickname he had given Sakura, but the expression of adoration on the older man's face was indication enough for Shisui.

Shisui instinctively reached out to grab Sakura but hesitated when he realized what he was doing. Kizashi noticed this, helped Sakura get down from his shoulders and handed her to Shisui. She wasn't an invalid, but it was a lot easier for her to move around town by being carried. When they were at home, she used her crutches to slowly move through the house as long as her leg was tightly bandaged. She was getting better at using the crutches and sometimes attempted to take one step with her injured leg to increase her pain tolerance.

"Did you want to spend the afternoon with Sakura-chan by chance? I know she would love to." Kizashi asked Shisui. He was not a blind old fool, he knew that the two kids had gotten incredibly close in a very short amount of time, especially since Shisui had spent time with Sakura every day he was in the village. Kizashi didn't want to come in between this budding friendship, seeing as Sakura had a hard enough time making friends.

"If it's not a problem with you, sir. Itachi and I were going to train together and I would love it if Sakura could come watch." Shisui beamed. He was trying his best to hide his excitement; Sakura was going to love seeing the two train and Shisui so wanted to teach her how to body flicker.

Kizashi told Sakura to be back home for supper and left to go deal with his wife's obvious issue with Shisui - that was something he was not looking forward to, but he knew he had to for Sakura's sake.

Sakura watched as her father disappeared amongst the swarm of people walking through the streets and turned to Shisui, all giddy "Can I really watch you train with Itachi? When are you starting?"

Shisui laughed at her antics and quick fire questions; he hadn't seen her this excited before and it was absolutely adorable. The way that her eyes sparkled and she kept fidgeting on his shoulders, shaking with unrestrained enthusiasm only served to pump Shisui up for his spar. "I'm actually meeting Itachi at Training Ground 4 in 10 minutes, need anything before we head out?"

"Nope."

"Then hold on tight Princess." As if knowing Sakura's mind, he jumped onto the rooftops and ran across the village.


	6. Chapter 6

By the time Shisui and Sakura arrived at Training Ground 4, Itachi was already there stretching. This was the first time Sakura had stepped foot onto a training ground reserved for shinobi and she soaked in every broken tree branch, every dent in the training posts and all the charred grass that resulted from a fire jutsu and committed it to memory. It was obvious that many shinobi trained here which only served to motivate her to pursue her dream.

Itachi looked up with a small smile and sauntered over to the duo and said "Sakura, your ability to hide your chakra has gotten better." Shisui knelt down with a proud smile and Itachi lifted Sakura off his cousin's shoulders in an uncharacteristically caring manner which did not go unnoticed by the older Uchiha. Itachi froze when he was holding Sakura, having just realized his bold movement. Shisui was grinning like a madman trying his best to hold back his laughter but wasn't successful. Sakura joined in the laughter and thanked Itachi - for the compliment and for helping her off Shisui's shoulders - as a light dusting of pink creeped onto his cheeks while laughter permeated through the training ground.

He placed Sakura down at the base of a tree, a safe distance away from where his spar with Shisui would take place. They had agreed that no ninjutsu was to be used, seeing as they wouldn't have been able to ensure Sakura's safety otherwise. They stood two meters away from each other with their ANBU swords unsheathed when Shisui shouted "Princess, can you tell us when to begin?"

Sakura happily agreed and calmed her heart - she was going to witness a spar between two very powerful shinobi, something she never imagined she would witness until she herself became a shinobi. She waited long enough for Shisui to look at her and shouted "Begin!"

She saw a small smile on Shisui's face as soon as she shouted and knew she had given him the disadvantage at the beginning of the spar. But not even one second later, the two boys had disappeared from the clearing. She looked around, hoping to see some movement but all she heard was metal on metal clashes all around her. She couldn't begin to comprehend their speed, one clash happened five meters from her, then one second later they seemed to be on the other side of the clearing, some four hundred meters away. At times, if she concentrated on their chakra signature hard enough, she could feel them moving very quickly. She couldn't follow their chakra all the time, but it helped her get a feel for where they were moving.

Was this the normal speed of ANBU? How in the world was it possible for the human body to move so fast? Right then and there Sakura made herself a new goal; she wanted to one day be able to spar with Itachi and Shisui.

They suddenly appeared in the middle of the clearing; Shisui had a sardonic smile and Itachi's lips quirked upwards ever so slightly. The two remained in the clearing and kept attacking and dodging and parrying each other's strikes. It was a beautiful dance, one that appeared perfectly choreographed to Sakura.

Shisui lunged in with his sword, aiming for Itachi's right hip, but the latter easily moved out of the way upon activating his sharingan.

"I see you're taking this seriously Tachi-kun" Shisui teased.

Sakura saw Itachi's brow twitch in irritation and mentally stored that information - she could use the nickname in the future for her own diabolical plans. His eyes narrowed and he disappeared from the clearing and a laughing Shisui. Her best friend had yet to activate his sharingan and she assumed it was all a ruse to rile up Itachi.

She saw movement in the sky and saw Itachi seemingly flying through the air with ten kunai in his hands. His red eyes were unmistakable even from this distance, as he threw two kunai in Shisui's direction and the other eight in random directions. Shisui moved out of the way only to end up in the path of another kunai - Sakura realized that Itachi had predicted Shisui's movements and sent kunai in those locations; he had even thrown kunai to change the direction of previously thrown kunai.

Shisui was finally forced to activate his sharingan when that last kunai grazed his arm. Sakura just realised that they had sheathed their swords at some point during the spar - probably when they were disappearing every second, she presumed. It was a mental exercise just trying to keep up with everything happening in this spar - or an all-out battle as Sakura believed it to be - the two were using swords and kunai and their fists and legs and moving faster than her eyes could see.

The two were now engaged in a pure taijutsu battle which Sakura enjoyed immensely. They had slowed down their movements so that Sakura could see them about 60% of the time, which was a huge improvement from about 5% when they had started the spar.

To say that Sakura was mesmerized would be an understatement. A few squirrels had come near her and even climbed onto her legs without her noticing. One squirrel even managed to drop an acorn onto Sakura's head without her reacting.

During the spar, Sakura had struggled to stand up while leaning onto the tree. She had grown so used to the pain in her leg that it had dulled, so she sometimes liked to put just a bit of weight on it to feel the pain intensify. She wasn't a masochist, she didn't enjoy the pain but it served as a reminder of what can happen in life and what she wanted to fight for to prevent from happening to others. She knew her pain tolerance had increased because she was able to put a bit more weight on her leg before the pain became intolerable. It gave her hope that maybe in a few years she would be able to put most if not all of her weight on her leg and not collapse to the ground.

The spar lasted a total of forty-three minutes during with Shisui and Itachi both struggled for dominance. Both boys had gotten new bruises and a few minor cuts from the spar, however, Shisui was not quite as winded as Itachi. Shisui was bent over, with his hands on his knees to catch his breath while Itachi had laid down on the ground to catch his breath.

Sakura stood by the tree, itching to go join them, internally debating if she would be capable of walking over to them. She was mentally trying to convince herself that she could make it, but a part of her thought of the damage that could be done if she took a misstep. A loud voice in her head cheered her on, yelling in encouragement that she could reach them, she was a capable pre-shinobi.

Sakura took a deep breath and steadied herself with one hand on the tree. She counted to three and started walking/hopping towards her friends. She didn't have her crutches so she did the best she could and barely put any weight on her injured leg when she took a step. She knew she needed to put a bit of weight on her leg for balance, seeing as she always steadied herself with a wall when she was at home - she made a mental note to practice hopping around on one leg when she got home so she could move around more freely.

Her heart raced with each step she took. She was so focused on getting to Shisui and Itachi that she didn't notice both of them looking at her. She had walked fifty meters when she heard Itachi telling Shisui to let her do this on her own. The slight distraction caused her to put a bit more weight on her leg after which she collapsed to the ground, stopping her fall with her hands in a push up like stance. Shisui was at her side in an instant and tried to help her up, but she shook her head, fighting back the tears and the intense pain in her leg. The voice in her head had stayed and kept cheering her on, motivating her to get back up and keep walking - and she did just that.

Sakura struggled to get up in a shaky one-legged squat and resumed her hopping - towards Itachi this time because Shisui would not leave her side, which was very distracting.

"Shisui, can you go wait with Itachi please? I have to do this." The determination in Sakura's voice made Shisui's eyes widen comically. He had never heard Sakura so stern and determined before and it overjoyed him. He body flickered to stand beside Itachi and nodded for Sakura to keep going.

The little girl took a few moments to get in the zone before she resumed her self-appointed mission. It took her just over fifteen minutes to reach the duo - she suspected they kept walking back every now and then, just so she would have a greater distance to travel, but she was alright with that - during which she stumbled a few times but never fell to the ground a second time.

Shisui caught her with arms wide open when she collapsed from exertion - he estimated that she had hopped an astounding two hundred and fifty meters, definitely not an easy feat for a child. Itachi and Shisui both had plenty of time to cool down from their spar so they focused their attention on Sakura's sleepy explanation of all her favorite parts of the battle. The thing that stood out was when she told them that she could feel their chakra when they body flickered but couldn't see them.

"Can you teach me to use a sword? And move fast? And dodge everything? And throw kunai? And-"

"Slow down Princess, that's a lot of things!" Shisui laughed

Sakura, realized that she was probably asking too much of them. Just because they had spent lots of time with her didn't mean they would both want to train her. Sure, Shisui had said he would help her out, but she knew that there were some things she had to learn on her own; she couldn't just rely on them. She started to apologize profusely when Itachi laid a hand on her head, abruptly cutting her off.

"What Shisui meant was that, we can start teaching you certain things but not all at once."

"Yeah, you're not even in the academy yet, you still have six years before you can become a genin. We'll be able to teach you plenty of things." Shisui exclaimed, immediately cheering the little girl up. Shisui helped Sakura stand up and knelt down to her level. "The first thing I'll teach you today is the seal for the body flicker technique. If you practice enough, you won't need the seal. Now you have to promise me you won't try this on your own at first, ok?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. She looked at Shisui with wide eyes. She had subconsciously stopped breathing, for fear of breaking the illusion but when Shisui gave her a reassuring smile, she sobered up and started crying tears of joy. She jumped into his arms and kissed his cheek - the best way she knew how to express herself.

Shisui flinched from the kiss but a second later, he was hugging her fiercely. The last person to have given him a kiss on the cheek had been his mother before she died, and little did he know, it was something that was missing from his life. He kept holding onto Sakura tightly and worked on regaining his composure as he gently placed a kiss on the top of her head.

The hole in his heart left by the loss of his parents had begun to heal when he had met Sakura; she gave him the affection that his parents used to give him. When his parents died, he had shut himself off from his emotions until he had saved the pink haired girl. He thought of her as his salvation, his saviour and the kiss on his cheek solidified his resolve to be by her side for as long as she let him.

"Are you ready for the seal?" Shisui asked Sakura, managing to keep his voice steady. He felt her nod her head against his chest and he loosened his hold on her. He stood up and faced Sakura while forming the tiger seal with his right hand, which Sakura mimicked. "There's only one seal for this technique so the second part is how to properly channel your chakra throughout your body. It's a D rank jutsu and most shinobi can use the body flicker to travel, but not many can use it successfully in combat. The trick to use it in combat is that you have to constantly focus your chakra through your entire body and you have to be able to control it very precisely. You don't have much chakra yet, Princess, so I don't want you to practice this jutsu alright?"

At Shisui's explanation, Sakura just nodded her head. She wasn't saddened by fact that Shisui told her that she couldn't practice it due to her low chakra reserves, instead she was determined to increase her chakra reserves so she could practice the jutsu in the future.

She had read in her big book of chakra that meditation and pushing yourself to your physical limit would help increase the amount of chakra you have, but hadn't been successful at meditating yet and she hadn't even thought of trying to reach her physical limit due to her leg. "Shisui, can you teach me how to meditate?" She asked demurely.

Shisui let out an embarrassed chuckle and scratched the back of his head. He glanced at Itachi who had a very small smile dance across his face for a short moment - they both knew Itachi would be best to teach her about meditation.

Itachi was actually glad that Sakura asked to be taught to meditate. He wasn't jealous that Shisui was teaching her a jutsu, it's just that he wanted to help her too but didn't know how. He had felt guilty that he was inclined to teaching this girl something when he had his own brother he could teach, so he was struggling to find something he could teach both. Luckily, he was already trying to teach Sasuke how to meditate so he didn't feel guilty to teach Sakura something that he already taught Sasuke.

"I can teach you to meditate since Shisui taught you the jutsu." Itachi reasoned. The look of relief that flashed over Shisui and the look of excitement on Sakura's face were instantaneous.

* * *

Itachi spent a few hours going over meditation techniques with Sakura to make sure she had a few different ways she could try to meditate on her own then encouraged her to try it once. He had spent several days trying to get Sasuke to sit down and meditate, so he assumed that Sakura would need several days if she were to try it on her own but to his astonishment, she had entered a meditative state just over twenty minutes into her first attempt.

The two Uchiha had listened to Sakura's breathing and felt the slight shift in her chakra that indicated a meditative state. Shisui had immediately started quietly bragging about how amazing his Princess was and began comparing her to Sasuke - it seems that he had started a sibling rivalry, having unofficially adopted Sakura as his little sister. Itachi tried his best to refrain from rolling his eyes at his cousin; as the thought of comparing Sasuke and Sakura seemed ridiculous. He would always put his brother's best interest before anyone else's, but Sakura was quickly becoming the second most important person in his life, which was not something anyone but Shisui could find out. The simple fact that this girl was not an Uchiha would cause an uproar from the clan, and they were already annoying enough as it is.

Being the clan heir, Itachi was forced to learn more about politics, or to be more precise, his clan's ideals which he mostly disagreed with. His main priority was the well being of the village and helping the children grow strong - which was kind of ironic, seeing as he was still only a child himself. If he had his way, the Uchiha clan would be loyal to the village first and foremost, then to the clan itself. Unfortunately, the opposite was true.

Sakura broke out of her meditative state when a messenger appeared into the clearing, stating that the Hokage wanted to see Shisui. Shisui reluctantly stretched, trying to delay his next mission, at least he hoped it was a mission and not a discussion regarding his clan. The Hokage would usually summon either Shisui or Itachi - never both - for an update on the Uchiha clan's status. It had been mentioned during the past few clan meetings that the Uchiha were dissatisfied with how the village treated them. There had been tension between the clan and the village ever since the nine tails attack six years ago, and things had only gotten worse as time went on.

Shisui rested his hand on Sakura's head and said "I'll be back shortly, wait for me and I'll bring you home after ok?"

Sakura nodded slightly and turned to Itachi who in turn nodded at Shisui. The older male left and Sakura asked Itachi if they could continue meditating to which he agreed. The two sat down and leaned against a training post. Itachi waited to see if Sakura needed any guidance to enter a meditative state before starting his own meditation. Not even five minutes after they sat down Sakura's chakra shifted ever so slightly that had Itachi not been focused on it, he would not have noticed. He took a few minutes to listen to the sounds of the forest and animals around him and further relaxed onto the training post. He calmed his breathing and cleared his mind and soon found himself meditating.

* * *

Shisui arrived back at the clearing an hour after he had left only to find Itachi and Sakura both meditating against a training post. This only reinforced the fact that Sakura was similar to Itachi - not many people could tolerate meditating, let alone doing it for an extended period of time. He slowly walked towards the two, knowing that Itachi would have sensed him already and decided to sneak up on Sakura. He wanted to get back at her for giving him the disadvantage earlier when sparring with Itachi. He knew she had purposefully waited until he looked in her direction before telling them to begin.

Shisui didn't mask his chakra fully, he figured she was probably not able to sense chakra as well as him and Itachi, but he still wanted to make it difficult for her. As he approached Itachi, he saw his cousin tense ever so slightly and crack open one of his eyes. Shisui tore his eyes away from Sakura for a moment to look at Itachi and smirked at him. He turned back to look at Sakura and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. Sakura had her eyes wide open and was smiling at him like an idiot.

"You could still sense my chakra?!" Shisui asked, thoroughly shocked.

"I was meditating." Sakura stated as if that explained everything.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Shisui questioned somewhat tensed.

"I can sense chakra better than normal when I meditate." Sakura hesitantly explained. She didn't quite understand why Shisui was asking those questions and in all honesty, it scared her a bit. Had she done something wrong? Why was he serious all of a sudden?

"Prove it," Itachi cut in abruptly "tell me when you can't sense my chakra anymore." At Sakura's shaky nod, Itachi began masking more and more of his chakra until he was at about 25% and Sakura called out to him that she couldn't sense it anymore. "Can you break yourself out of meditation at will?" He asked the girl who responded by nervously nodding her head.

Sakura was on edge and felt herself nearing a breakdown but she kept her composure somehow and tried to enter a meditative state. Her mind was frantic, scared that the two Uchiha would not want anything to do with her anymore if she didn't manage to do what they told her to. She wasn't able to clear her mind when all she could focus on was trying to figure out what they wanted her to tell them. She hated it when others were mad at her for reasons she didn't understand. All she wanted was for Shisui and Itachi to be proud of her, and up until today, they had always been so positive towards her. This was the first negative emotion she had felt coming from both of them and it frightened her.

She actually hoped that the tendril monster would appear, either confirming that she was having a nightmare, or to have Shisui and Itachi shift their focus from her to the missing nin. Her heart began to beat much faster and she could feel her anxiety threatening to take over when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Her eyes shot open and she saw Shisui starring questioningly at her.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" He asked worriedly.

"I-I-I can't m-meditate" she cried softly rubbing at her eyes.

Shisui pulled her into a hug as she continued to sob. Itachi was looking at the two with a furrowed brow, clearly not knowing any more than Shisui as to why the pink haired girl was breaking down suddenly.

"W-w-what did I do wrong?" She whispered.

Shisui was taken aback at her question; she had done nothing wrong, why would she think she did? "What are you talking about, Princess? You did nothing wrong" he reassured her.

"But y-you were both... almost calling me a l-liar." She managed to blurt out.

"Sakura, we didn't mean to sound like that, but it's not normal to sense chakra better while meditating. We're just curious." Itachi explained to Sakura.

Sakura wiped away her remaining tears now that she understood why they were questioning her ability. She took a few moments to calm down and steadied her breath to begin meditating. While in her meditative state, she was able to focus on herself and the nature around her. She rather liked meditating because she felt completely relaxed, and took the time to really feel her chakra coursing through her. She focused on her surroundings and zeroed in on Itachi's chakra. She waited until he began to mask more and more of his chakra until she couldn't feel it anymore, at which point she broke out of her relaxed state and looked at Itachi for the results of his test.

"Did you break out of your meditation as soon as you stopped sensing my chakra?" Itachi asked sharply. She nodded her head, still somewhat frightened of his tone. "That was the most I could mask my chakra, which is down to 10%."

Sakura felt something hard run into her at which she let out a yelp of surprise mixed with pain because her leg had twisted in the wrong direction. Her leg was bandaged very tightly so it reduced the amount of pain but all she could do was push off against the object that was on top of her to get to her leg.

Shisui realized his mistake the minute he heard Sakura's yelp. He was amazed at her ability to sense Itachi's chakra at its lowest that he subconsciously tackled the girl into a bear hug, but he had forgotten about her leg. He quickly got off her when he felt her struggling and sat back and watched her massage her leg. She had tears running down her cheeks and he felt so bad for messing up.

She stopped crying and whimpering after ten minutes - ten minutes of torture for Shisui - at which the older Uchiha gingerly laid a hand on her head. "I'm so sorry Princess, I forgot about your leg and I was just so impressed that I couldn't help myself."

Sakura glanced up at Shisui, "You were impressed?" she asked, having forgotten the fact that Shisui had inadvertently caused her a great deal of physical pain; she was ecstatic at the possibility that she was good at something other than reading.

Shisui and Itachi told her about their little game they had going on and informed her that while meditating she was just as good as them at sensing chakra. Sakura was in complete and utter shock and was looking at them in disbelief. She didn't think they would lie to her face, but she also couldn't imagine being remotely close to their skill in anything so she just smiled and pretended to believe them.

Sakura's stomach growled loudly, at which she blushed and looked away from Shisui who had barked out a laugh. None of them had realized how much time had passed by as the sun was already starting to set. Shisui was afraid that Sakura's father would be upset and never let him hang out with her again so he quickly grabbed Sakura into his arms, told her to say her goodbyes to Itachi and ran for Sakura's house.

When they arrived at her house, Shisui hesitated; he didn't want her mother to open the door as she clearly disapproved of him being around her daughter. Sakura asked to be put down and hugged his legs "You can leave so Mama doesn't see you. Thank you for letting me see you spar." She looked up at him from her hug with a wide grin.

Shisui knelt down to her level and looked her straight in the eyes. He noticed Sakura flinch slightly, but he kept on looking at her with a small smile. "I have a short mission that will last three days with Itachi. I'm sorry I'm missing your aunt and uncle's funeral, I wanted to be there for you, but I'll come see you first thing when I come back ok?"

Sakura nodded and turned to go inside the house. Shisui let out a sigh and body flickered away from the Haruno household. He had a few things he had to discuss with Itachi regarding his meeting with the Hokage; it seemed that the clan was starting to put pressure on the council which put unwanted pressure on the already strained relationship.

* * *

Mebuki had started worrying about Sakura an hour before the sun set, but Kizashi reassured her that she was in good hands. He had managed to convince his wife that Shisui was a good and trustworthy kid who looked out for the wellbeing of their daughter.

Just as supper was ready, Sakura walked through the door and greeted her family. Mebuki rushed over to check on her daughter, to make sure she was alright and not in pain. Once Sakura reassured her that she was just a little tired, Kizashi brought Sakura her crutches.

The family ate in near silence, simply enjoying each other's presence. Once the meal was finished, Sakura and Takeshi did the dishes while her parents went to the living room to discuss the funeral that was scheduled in two days.

Since her family had returned, she hadn't had the chance to speak with Takeshi. The two had always been very close growing up and shared everything with each other. Takeshi had told her about his first crush and when he started going out with his first and only girlfriend - to this day, neither his parents not Sakura's parents knew he had been in a relationship.

Takeshi kept sneaking glances at Sakura, looking as though he wanted to say something. It was strange, Takeshi had never refrained from speaking to her before and she surmised it was about his parents.

"You can always ask me anything Take-kun." She reassured him and saw him visibly let go of the tension in his shoulders. He took a step away from the sink towards her and enveloped her in an almost bear hug, holding onto her as if his life depended on it.

"You didn't tell us any details, and I thank you for that. You can't imagine how much I appreciate it." He quietly sobbed into her hair.

Sakura returned the embrace with just as much fervor, happy with herself for keeping the vivid details of the deaths to herself; she knew it would only hurt her family more. After seeing her father cry, she never wanted to have any member of her family hurt ever again, as it broke her heart. She vowed to be there for her family since she already had a few weeks to mourn the loss of her aunt and uncle and they had just started mourning the previous day.

"I'll always be here for you Take-kun." She reassured her cousin.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight Kura-chan?" He quietly asked. "I don't want to be alone." he was hoping that they would spend the entire day together tomorrow, not just because his parents had passed away, but because he had dearly missed his cousin.

He was six years old when Sakura was born and he had taken an instant liking to the calm baby. He spent every minute he had with Sakura, observing her and encouraging her when she started to walk and talk. He knew her parents were always busy and spent a lot of time travelling outside the village - they couldn't always travel with a child, so they left her with Hiroki and Natsuko more often than not- so he helped his parents take care of her when she was in the village.

He had watched her grow up into such an inquisitive and loving child that he felt honoured to be a part of her life. He had never felt jealousy towards her, even when at four years old - and he was ten - she was comprehending the same business and trading strategies he was reading about. He would sometimes ask her to explain some concepts he had recently learned in school without shame, she would sometimes learn the material, then explain it to him so he would understand. He sometimes felt that she was the older one of the two, just by her maturity and knowledge, but never resented her.

"Of course! You never have to ask." She told him happily.

The two eventually walked to the living room to sit with Sakura's parents and go over the funeral arrangements. They walked through the steps of preparing a funeral with the two after having seen Sakura's curiosity. They explained that the first step is to speak to the Hokage to set a date and time, then choose one of three locations throughout the village typically reserved to funeral ceremonies. Once the location was chosen, it was time to inform the friends and family of the deceased. For that, Kizashi and Mebuki had posted an obituary notice in the newspapers and informed the jonin commander - he was in charge of all shinobi, not just the jonin - of the date and time of the funeral. Kizashi asked the two children if they wanted to accompany himself and Mebuki the next day and inform any civilian friends and remaining family in the village of the funeral. Sakura squeezed Takeshi's hand and nodded her head slowly; she was looking forward to being with her family, and even though she knew Shisui would understand, she was still glad that he had a mission for three days.

The family spent the rest of the evening sitting together in the living room, each reading their own book. Kizashi was sitting on the couch, going over the purchases and sales from their recent business trip all the while hugging Sakura with one arm who was curled up on his side. She was reading the book Shisui gave her on medical ninjutsu and thoroughly enjoying the different ways chakra could be used to heal; from diminishing the pain from an injury to stitching skin, tissue and muscles back together and even performing extensive surgery. The book didn't go into too many details, seeing as it was an introductory book for medical nins, but she loved learning about the different things chakra could do. It was fascinating and to her, the sky was the limit.

Takeshi broke Sakura out of her reading when he started whimpering softly beside her as he slept. As gently as possible, she put her book on her father's lap and ran a hand through her cousin's hair to which he relaxed almost immediately and kept sleeping soundly.

If it was possible, Sakura would gladly take all the hardships away from her family and endure it. She felt capable of handling all of their fears and worries if only it would make them blissfully happy. That was all she could ask for, for the people she cared about to be happy and never have anything bad happen to them.

"Sometimes I think you're much older than you actually are Sakura-chan." Her father whispered to her. He gently hugged her seeing as she was already leaning up against him, while making sure Takeshi wasn't disturbed from his sleep.

"You're too caring and nice for a shinobi Sakura." came her mother's ever-present objection to her career choice.

"That's what would make her a great shinobi Mebuki, she cares so much about others" her father defended her.

Sakura appreciated her father's defense, but every time her mother tried to dissuade her from become a shinobi, she felt anger boil up inside, but she refused to talk back to her mother. She did however, internalize her anger, she would imagine all the things she would say and things she would do to prove to her mother that she would be a capable shinobi. However, that was all in her head and she knew she was too reserved to express anything out loud.

"She's already missed a few weeks of school, maybe it would be best for her to stay home this year to recuperate and start next April." Her mother said.

Sakura was scheduled to start her first semester of school the week after her birthday, but seeing as she had been hospitalized and struggling to move around at home for a few weeks, she still hadn't stepped foot in the academy. She was itching to go to school and learn seeing as she had worked hard to get the approval of her parents to attend. She was hoping that she would be in the same class as Ino so she wouldn't be all alone, but she convinced herself that she would make other friends even if Ino was not with her.

"No!" Sakura blurted out, "I can go to school next week, I can use my crutches. I can move around, I'll find a way." She was damn near panicking, she didn't want to wait another year before starting the academy. She wanted to be in Ino's grade, and graduate with her. She wanted to learn everything they taught about combat, politics, self improvement and the shinobi nations.

"You can't be falling behind Sakura, it will be too much to catch up" Her mother stated.

"Mebuki, we can wait a few days before making a decision. If Sakura can show us that she is capable of moving around on her own, I see no problem with her attending the academy. There is no combat in first year anyways." Her father appeased her mother. Sakura understood what her father was doing; he gave her a goal to strive for to prove to her mother that she could attend the academy.

"Alright, we'll see on Sunday if she can walk on her own to the academy and back."

Sakura was doubtful that she would be able to go to the academy and back in one go, but she was determined to give it her all and she would start by only moving using her crutches the next day. She looked at her mother and absently noded to let her know she had heard her. She was going to need all of her energy to walk around tomorrow, and the best way was to go to sleep.

"Takeshi-kun, did you want to go to bed?" She gently nudged her cousin awake.

Takeshi slowly woke up just enough to drag himself off the couch and walk to Sakura's room. The pink haired girl got up, kissed her parents good night and grabbed her crutches before hobbling off to her room for the night.

* * *

The Haruno family spent the next day together, walking around the village to let Hiroki and Natsuko's friends know of the funeral the next day and enjoying the abnormally warm April afternoon sun in their yard. The backyard was quite spacious seeing as they lived on the outskirts of the civilian district. Sakura's parents grew a variety of flowers and plants and even had a plentiful vegetable garden every summer. Seeing as they were often outside the village, Sakura had been taught how to take care of all the flora around the house.

There were several cherry blossom trees and many evergreens growing at the edge of their property while flowers were planted at the base of each tree, showcasing an assortment of different and colourful species. Sakura's favorite part of the yard was the open space in the middle of everything where she loved spending her days playing shinobi with her cousin. Takeshi would usually pretend to be the civilian who needed protection while Sakura escorted him around the yard and sometimes even through the village.

Today, however, Sakura had struggled to keep up with her family as they walked around the market. She kept telling her father that she had to walk on her own the entire day so her mother would let her attend the academy. After two hours of torture, her hands were full of blisters from using the crutches and her underarms felt raw.

Takeshi didn't like the fact that Sakura was in pain, so he had asked if they could go back home to spend the day away from the hustle and bustle of the city. He had said that he didn't feel like being around others since he would have to force himself to be presentable the next day for the funeral.

Sakura and her father spent most of the afternoon together, while Takeshi and Mebuki each read a book side by side on lawn chairs. Sakura was finally able to spend some one on one time with her father, something she dearly missed doing. The two spoke of everything, ranging from Shisui to her broken leg to her father's latest business trip and finally to making friends in school.

"Papa, why don't kids like me?" She asked.

"I wish I knew sweetheart, you're an amazing kid and I can't see why they wouldn't like you" he replied. He had seen the way kids treated her and had, on occasion, spoken to the parents about their kids' behaviour which only ended up making things worse. He sincerely hoped that the kids at the academy would be more welcoming to his daughter but wasn't going to hold his breath.

"At least I have Shisui and Itachi and Ino when you're out of the village." She told her father.

He gently ruffled her hair, trying to convey his regret at not being more present for his daughter, causing the child to blush slightly and throw herself into her father's arms. He caught her carefully, trying to not jostle her leg at all - it was something he was going to have to get used to since the doctors had stated there was nothing they could do for Sakura.

He ran his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep on his lap. Sakura had always loved being close to others, every morning when she woke up, she would give her parents a hug and a kiss to start her day and always a hug and a kiss goodnight. It was her favorite way of greeting her family and she delighted in the comfort it offered her. Every time he left on a business trip, Kizashi missed her affectionate greetings, so he soaked up her affection every time he came back to the village.

Kizashi was not looking forward to going on his annual business trip to Suna in less than two weeks, but it was the biggest trip of the year. They always made the most profit during this trip, which meant that they could not miss it. Luckily, they had planned to leave a week earlier to enjoy the sights, but with the funeral and not wanting to leave Sakura on her own afterwards, they had gladly postponed their departure. It would be Takeshi's first time coming with them to the annual meeting, and the boy was excited. Kizashi was impressed with his nephew's grasp on profitable trading and knew he would grow up to be an exceptional merchant.

"I'll go make dinner for us Kizashi, can you bring the kids inside in twenty minutes?"

Kizashi nodded and beckoned Takeshi over to him. The young boy walked over and sat down beside him and started petting the sleeping girl's hair.

"I think she has nightmares of what happened. I woke up last night and she was crying softly." Takeshi informed Kizashi.

"I worry about her being alone. I'll have to talk to Shisui and see if he can check in on her when we're gone." He stated with a frown. He knew he would have been affected by whatever Sakura may have seen, he couldn't imagine the effect it had on his daughter.

"Yeah, he seems good for her since she doesn't have anyone to help her with being a shinobi anymore." Takeshi finished his sentence ever so quietly, not able to keep a steady voice when thinking of his parents.

A few moments later, Sakura opened one eye and peered up at her father and cousin. They were both looking up at the sun, and they seemed at peace. She was glad that they were able to enjoy the afternoon, because she knew tomorrow was going to be hard for all of them. She stretched her arms and grabbed both of their hands, thoroughly enjoying their closeness. Her stomach growled which caused both males to chuckle at her.

"Perfect timing Sakura-chan, dinner is just about ready." her father told her.

She sat up but refused her father's helping hand - she needed to practice on her own. She untied her bandages around her leg and rewrapped it tightly. She struggled to stand up on one leg but smiled when she managed without anyone else's help. She had flailed her arms around a bit to keep balance, but they important thing was that she succeeded. She saw the proud smile from her father and started walking towards the house with him and Takeshi. Her crutches were in the living room, so she took small steps and put just enough weight on her shattered leg to stay balanced.

Sakura looked up and saw her mother watching her carefully from the kitchen window with her hands clasped together in front of her heart. When their gazes met, her mother didn't hesitate to smile and give her a thumbs up in silent support, startling Sakura.

Mebuki had always opposed Sakura's desire to become a shinobi at first, but at the end of the day, she would be proud of her daughter no matter what she ended up doing in life. Whether Sakura wanted to become a shinobi, a merchant, a doctor or a chef, Mebuki would always cheer her on to do her best - she just found it difficult to show support when it came to the life of a shinobi due to the risks involved.

Mebuki had thought Sakura would to want to stop being a shinobi after what had happened, but to her surprise, it seemed to only cement the little girl's decision so Mebuki had vowed to help her daughter out in whichever way possible. Of course, this vow came after Kizashi had explained everything to her the previous day when he told her that Sakura was with Shisui and would keep being around the boy. The woman reluctantly agreed that Shisui seemed like he cared about Sakura a great deal and would never harm her, and she decided that it would be best if Shisui had a meal with the family so they could be sure that she was in good hands. Kizashi was tasked to talk to Sakura about it - which he did that afternoon in their backyard - so their daughter could invite the Uchiha.

The back door opened and Mebuki saw Takeshi run to the living room. Next, she saw Sakura walk slowly through the front door with a triumphant smile on her face and she couldn't help but smile back at her daughter. Mebuki knew Sakura was very smart but seeing the girl learn to use a shattered leg and endure the pain showed her how resilient she was.

Mebuki couldn't begin to imagine the amount of physical pain Sakura was in as she had only ever broken her arm once in her life and it had been in a cast which helped her avoid using it. She remembered her arm had hurt and she had cried out when she accidentally tried to hold the fridge door open with it; but she didn't think her pain could remotely come close to Sakura's.

"Here you go Sakura-chan!" Takeshi rushed over to his cousin to her the crutches. Sakura suddenly threw herself at her cousin when he was within reach which made a huge grin appear on Takeshi's face. He spun Sakura around and held her close to him. Suddenly Takeshi maneuvered Sakura to carry her over his shoulder and Sakura let out a squeal of laughter

Kizashi walked over to his wife and enveloped her in a hug. They were both enjoying the fact that the two children were acting like their old selves at the moment; they weren't thinking of the death or of loss. They set up the table while they listened as laughter bounced off the walls, sharing a smile every now and then.

* * *

After dinner, Sakura's mother insisted that she would help Sakura with the dishes, which made the little girl very suspicious. Her mother had been acting strangely the entire day and she didn't know what to think of it. Maybe her mother had already cancelled her enrollment to the academy? Or maybe she would be forced to go on all of her parents' business trips with them? No matter what Sakura thought, it couldn't be good, so she washed the dishes quietly, trying to delay the inevitable conversation with her mother.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan," Her mother half whispered half sobbed. Sakura's brows furrowed slightly trying to figure out why her mother would be sorry. "I'm sorry for trying to stop you from becoming a shinobi."

Sakura whipped her head around and stared up at her mother with eyes as wide as saucers. She had always secretly hoped that her mother would eventually agree to her becoming a shinobi, but she didn't think it would actually happen. Sakura didn't know what to do, so she just kept staring at her mother, hoping she would elaborate.

"I just wanted to protect you," her mother said as she knelt down to look Sakura in the eyes. "but your father helped me realize that the best thing for me to do is to be there for you. I may not be able to help you train, but I will do everything in my power to make sure you have everything you need."

Sakura gently wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and gave her a gentle kiss. "Mama, I love you."

It was all Sakura managed to say. She wanted to express her gratitude and tell her mother how much it meant to her and that she would do her best to be strong. She wanted to tell her how happy she was that they wouldn't be on opposite sides of the fence anymore. All Sakura could do was cry silently in her mother's arms as her father and cousin stood by the kitchen and smiled happily at the two who had finally reconciled.

* * *

 _ **Let me know what you guys think about the story so far. I love constructive criticism since this is my first story. I know this isn't following canon Sakura's background, but I'm trying to write her in character, but it's hard.**_

 _ **I'd love to know what you guys think will happen from what I've written so far. I know I haven't really introduced many characters so far (we haven't even seen Ino yet!) but it will get there. I looked at the Naruto timeline to get an idea of when certain events happen, but I may have to change to time some things happen to fit my story (example if something happens in summer in canon, I may push it back to fall for reasons only known to me).**_

 _ **Thank you to those who have reviewed, you have no idea how awesome it feels to get feedback!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed things so far, there's plenty more to come! Also, let me know if there are things you would like to see - if I can fit it in my story while not breaking affecting the plot too much then I can add it in.**_


	7. Chapter 7

The weather was very representative of what Sakura felt that day; it was miserable, dark and very unwelcoming. It was unnaturally humid and felt like they were in the eye of a tornado, expecting chaos to unleash at any minute.

It didn't help that Sakura slept alone that night right up until her screams woke everyone up in the house, causing instant panic. She hadn't thought of the nightmares since her family had returned, but her first night alone served as a reminder of her damaged psyche. The tendril monster was especially brutal this time, tearing her aunt and uncle's limbs one by one, starting with the toes and moving upwards. By the time he ripped one of her uncle's leg off, her father was shaking her shoulder to wake her up.

The images from her nightmare stayed a while after she had been woken up and her mind was telling her that the tendril monster was shaking her, getting ready to rip her arm out of her shoulder socket. Sakura had accidentally lashed out and punched her father in the jaw after which everyone moved back in order to give her some space.

The first thing Sakura saw when the dream veil lifted was Takeshi's wide eyes, brimming with tears. She blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what was going on and suddenly, her father had come to her side and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"You're awake now, no more nightmares. We're here for you, Sakura-chan." Her father was cradling her and repeating those words - to comfort her or himself, she wasn't quite sure.

Takeshi took a hesitant step towards his cousin, his mind reeling with the rawness of Sakura's screams. He tried to speak up but he couldn't make a sound, fear causing him to freeze up.

Everyone had stayed in Sakura's room after that, hoping they would be able to sleep for another few hours before the funeral. Takeshi layed facing Sakura, watching her expression soften as she fell back asleep. He smiled softly and promptly fell asleep once he was satisfied with Sakura's dreamless sleep.

* * *

Sakura was mindlessly following her parents down the street on their way to the funeral. It seemed surreal to her that today would be the day that they would all say goodbye to her aunt and uncle. She didn't want to say goodbye and risk forgetting about them; she wanted to greet them every day and they would ruffle her hair and teach her about being a shinobi. They would die of old age after retiring from active duty in many years, after they had grandchildren.

Of course, Sakura knew that was a pipe dream but she felt a rightness in her chest at the thought of parting with them. She was aware that they had been brutally murdered, she simply wished that none of it had happened. She did like imagining what life would be like if they were still alive. She liked to think they would be teaching her about poisons and she would be coming back home from the academy and telling them all about her day; what she learned, who her classmates were and all the new friends-

"Kura-chan, are you alright?" Takeshi asked as he entwined his fingers with hers.

Sakura focused on everything around her, noticing they had walked a good twenty minutes without her realizing it. She looked at her cousin and gave a small smile "Yeah, I was just imagining what things would be like if they were still alive."

"I know it would be nice, but you shouldn't think too much about that. It may make life harder to get by at times."

Sakura looked up at her cousin and wondered when he had gotten so wise. She noticed he had grown older during his last trip by the way his jawline was a bit more defined; his face had lost some of its roundness. She liked to imagine that he would resemble his father when he reached adulthood and he would find the perfect woman and he would have the most perfect children-

"Kura-chan… you're off in your own world again." He teased her.

Sakura grinned and stuck out her tongue at him and focused on picking up her speed on the crutches to catch up to her parents.

They soon arrived at the field of flowers where they had decided to hold the funeral. It was very fitting seeing as the Hiroki was a poisons expert and Natsuko adored the smell of flowers.

When Sakura glanced around the reception, she saw that the predominant flowers were peonies and sweet peas arranged in small bouquets throughout the reception with cherry blossoms and bluebells beautifully decorating the picture frames of her aunt and uncle. She was able to name the flowers - her parents dealt with flowers across the shinobi nations, she would be very disappointed in herself if she hadn't been able to learn the very basics of her family trade - but she didn't know what they symbolized.

"Mama, what do the flowers mean?" she quietly asked her mother after having caught up with her.

Her mother knelt down in front of Sakura and placed her hand on the girl's head. "The peonies represent bravery and I coupled them with sweet peas which mean goodbye." Her mother took a shaky breath and Sakura could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Takeshi suggested we decorate his parents' picture frames with bluebells and cherry blossoms to show how grateful we are that they protected you." By the end of her sentence, Mebuki allowed her tears to fall down her cheeks and choked back a sob.

Takeshi, who had been standing beside Sakura when she asked her mother about the flowers, stepped towards Mebuki and pulled Sakura towards them. He hugged Sakura close to him as he leaned into Mebuki softly thanking them both for being there for him.

* * *

During the ceremony, Sakura stood to the side with her family while the Hokage gave a short speech about both Hiroki and Natsuko. She wasn't aware that the Hokage knew her aunt and uncle quite as well as he did; as she had always assumed the Hokage only really interacted with the Jounin of the village. His heartfelt speech only reinforced the notion that the village was worth protecting, seeing as it was all part of one big family. Sakura didn't have a big family, seeing as most of them basically disowned Hiroki for becoming a shinobi and they shunned her father for supporting Hiroki's career choice. She only ever spoke to a distant cousin who lived in the northern part of Fire country once. No other family members lived in Konoha, it was only her mother, father, Takeshi and aunt and uncle that had lived in this part of Fire country. She had never met her paternal grandmother but she was the only other person who accepted Hiroki's choice to become a shinobi.

She took the chance to look around at everyone who was attending the ceremony. Again, she didn't know that her aunt and uncle had been a part of so many people's lives. There were two shinobi who were standing together fairly close to the front that seemed particularly affected by the loss of her aunt and uncle. One of them had long black spiky hair and what Sakura assumed to be a bandage that ran across the bridge of his nose while the other had his hair covering one eye and wore his forehead protector like a bandana.

They were definitely the most affected - aside from her family of course - and it made Sakura all the more curious. They were shinobi, probably at least chunin if Sakura had to guess, so it was possible they either worked with one or both of the deceased or they had been frequent teammates. Sakura was tempted to bet that they were co-workers more than teammates, just because she knew her aunt and uncle rarely went on missions.

She wanted to walk over to the two but she didn't know what to say. Would she tell the two shinobi that ther aunt and uncle were no longer suffering? That everything would be alright? That they shouldn't be sad? She didn't think that anything would be appropriate, so she just stood there and looked at them. She felt like she was invading their privacy, but she was more curious about them than anything.

The one with the spiky hair glanced around the reception and locked eyes with her. For half a second Sakura felt immense guilt at being caught staring at the two, but she gave him a sympathetic smile and her heart broke a little when he returned one of the saddest smiles she had ever seen.

She grabbed Takeshi's hand and squeezed it, silently asking for his support and he squeezed right back. She decided to continue looking around the reception and saw a woman with red eyes and long wavy black hair. The eyes reminded her of Shisui and Itachi and she hoped they were doing well on their mission. She also hoped they finished their mission before her parents and Takeshi left for Suna; she didn't want to be alone now that the nightmares had returned.

Takeshi squeezed her hand repeatedly to gain her attention and motioned her to look towards the front of the reception where the spiky haired shinobi and his friend were both looking at her. Sakura's eyes widened ever so slightly, startled that they were both looking at her. She had assumed her brief glance with the hedgehog nin was a short interaction that neither party would ever reflect upon again, but it seemed he had informed his friend.

Hedgehog - the nickname Sakura figured suited him best - gave her an encouraging smile and even managed to give her a small wave before his friend - Bandana - gave an exasperated sigh and nudged him to stop. Sakura smiled and chuckled quietly at the two, glad that they were able to temporarily be in better spirits.

When it was time for everyone to walk up and pay flowers down for the deceased, Sakura walked hand in hand with Takeshi. Takeshi held both of their bouquets of carnations as Sakura used one crutch to help her along. She had somehow been able to hold in her tears during the entire reception but as soon as she laid down her flowers, she finally realized that this was the last goodbye. She stood there, quietly telling her aunt and uncle how much she loved them, how much she admired them and how no one could ever replace them. She told them that she would train to become a strong shinobi and do everything in her power to avenge them if she could. She told them of all her hopes and dreams, how Takeshi would grow up to be someone amazing and that they would be so proud of him. She wanted to spend hours standing there and telling them everything and anything she could think of but her father gently picked her up and walked away.

She knew she was making a scene, but she didn't want to leave. She tried to reach out to her aunt and uncle, tried to go back to them but her father held on tightly. Through her tears she saw Hedgehog looking at her but couldn't make out his expression. She didn't care if he thought she was being childish or if she was making a fool of herself, she didn't want to say goodbye anymore.

Sakura started flailing her arms and legs, anything to get her father to let go of her. She bit the inside of her cheek and soldiered through the pain radiating from her leg. It was stupid but she didn't care if she was in pain, it only fueled her drive to go talk to her aunt and uncle again.

"Sakura-chan, we'll be able to come back and visit everyday if you want. We just have to let everyone say goodbye today. We have to be considerate to others, they all knew Hiroki and Natsuko too." Her father reassured her, hoping it would calm her down.

Kizashi had never seen Sakura so recklessly determined to do something and it scared him a little. He knew she was in severe pain but she kept on struggling to get free. He quickly walked away from the reception while Takeshi followed him, carrying Sakura's crutch.

"I'll bring her home Mebuki, can you deal with things here?"

"I'll be fine, please make sure our girl's alright." Mebuki said worriedly

Sakura calmed down after a few minutes but began shaking from the pain she had caused herself. Her tears were slowing down and her breathing became more regular by the time they entered their home.

"Where will I be able to talk to them?" She asked quietly.

"They have a tombstone in the cemetery that we'll be able to go visit whenever you want." Her rather informed her. "We're going to have a lot of people in the house soon, but we can go visit the tombstone tomorrow."

Sakura nodded against his shoulder, and said "can you bring me to my room for a bit?"

"Of course sweetheart, come downstairs when you're ready."

The Haruno household was very busy that afternoon as most people who attended the funeral came to spend the afternoon. Civilians and shinobi interacted with each other and everyone told their favorite stories of Hiroki and Natsuko.

Mebuki had just finished preparing tea for everyone when she decided to go check up on her daughter and see if she wanted to come down and hear all the different shinobi stories - she was trying her best to be supportive of Sakura's career choice. She walked up the stairs and gently knocked on Sakura's bedroom door "Sakura, sweety, did you want to come downstairs for a bit?"

When Mebuki didn't hear a response she quietly opened the door only to find the bedroom empty. She walked inside and looked around, not finding her daughter anywhere - maybe Sakura had gone downstairs and she just hadn't seen her yet. Mebuki made her way to her husband and asked him if he had seen Sakura but he thought she was still in her bedroom as well.

They enlisted Takeshi in helping them look for Sakura around the house. The three thoroughly looked around the house and in the yard but to no avail. Mebuki was starting to panic a little, did someone kidnap her daughter? Could Shisui have come back from his mission and taken her away without telling anyone? What if she was in danger or hurt somewhere, all alone?

A shinobi with black spiky hair walked up to the three Haruno and asked if there was something wrong.

"You haven't seen a pink haired child around the house, have you? It's hard to miss her." Kizashi asked, trying to lighten the mood for his family.

"I remember seeing her at the funeral, but not here, sorry. Do you need help finding her?"

"If you happen to see her around the house, could you bring her to us?" Kizashi asked, thinking that maybe a shinobi would have an easier time finding his daughter if she was hiding. The shinobi nodded, walked over to his friend and started his search for the pink haired girl.

"This isn't like her, Kizashi, she's never hid from us before." Mebuki continued to express her concerns as they made their way to Sakura's bedroom. Once inside, all three searched every nook and cranny of the room until Takeshi noticed something odd.

"Her bedsheets are missing from her bed."

Kizashi's eyes widened as he put the pieces together and walked over to the window. He pulled the curtains aside and instantly knew where Sakura was. He chuckled softly to himself and let out a sigh of relief.

"I think I know where she is. She used the bedsheets to climb out of the window like the stories we used to read to her. And I bet you she's at the cemetery." He informed his wife and nephew.

"Why the cemetery?" Mebuki asked.

"I told her that Hiroki and Natsuko's tombstone was where we could go to talk to them. I said we could go tomorrow but I guess she didn't want to wait that long." Kizashi smiled as he made his way down the stairs and out of the house to go see his daughter.

* * *

Kizashi found Sakura sitting on the grass in front of a tombstone - he would have to ask her how long it took her to find it since he hadn't even known where it was - with her legs stretched out in front of her and her big book of chakra on her lap. She was animatedly describing the spar she had seen between Shisui and Itachi - he had already heard this story at least 5 times - with the most enthusiasm he's ever seen coming from her. She looked so carefree and happy that it pained him to know she may only be this excited at the cemetery from now on. He had a feeling she would be spending a lot of time here once she started at the academy.

He slowly made his way over to Sakura and placed his hand on her head. She beamed at him and tilted her face upwards where he saw the telltale signs of crying; puffy eyes, red cheeks and dried tears. He sat down beside his little girl and let her finish her story.

"You scared us with that little disappearing act." Kizashi tried to not reprimand her too harshly.

"Sorry Papa, I just… I just wanted to speak to them again. I won't do it again." His daughter said softly.

"I will say that I'm pretty impressed though. You managed to climb out of your window and into the yard while carrying that big book without anyone noticing you. Then you walked all the way over here, and that's at least a kilometer and a half - and without your crutches! When did you leave your room?" Kizashi wasn't a genius but he figured that she must have left shortly after he left her in her room.

"Don't be mad… I waited 10 minutes after you and Takeshi-kun left my room." She was looking up at him with pleading eyes and he knew he could never be mad at her, she was his world.

"Well at least I'm pretty sure your mother will allow you to attend the academy after she hears about this." Kizashi laughed as he thought of Mebuki's expression of disbelief when he would tell her later that day.

The two sat by the tombstone until the sun started to set - Sakura wanted to stay but Kizashi pointed out that she was slowly falling asleep - then made their way back to the house, hand in hand.

"Sakura-chan, what would you like to do for your late birthday?" He wasn't sure what Sakura's reaction would be at the mention of her birthday seeing as it was a horrific experience for her, but he hadn't spoiled her as of yet and he was itching to do so.

Her silence was enough of a response for Kizashi, so he figured he would surprise her with something he knows she loves. "How about this then: tomorrow we can go watch some shinobi train."

Sakura tackled him into a hug and he gently lifted her up onto his shoulders - her favorite method of travel as she longed to be tall. He stopped chuckling long enough to say "I'll take that as a yes." at which she hummed in agreement.

By the time the duo made it back home, only Mebuki and Takeshi were there, cleaning the house. Sakura had fallen asleep and Kizashi was now carrying her in his arms, always mindful to not move her leg.

"Takeshi, are you ok to sleep in Sakura's room tonight?" Kizashi asked, not wanting a repeat performance of the previous night.

"Yeah! Can I finish cleaning tomorrow morning?" He asked Mebuki, today had been emotionally exhausting for everyone and Takeshi seemed to almost be falling asleep on his feet, pushing himself to clean so his aunt wouldn't have to do all the work.

"I think we could all go to bed early tonight. But this time, everyone sleeps in our bed, it's much bigger than Sakura-chan's." Mebuki glared playfully at the two males - they had been the ones to insist they slept in Sakura's room the other time - and followed her family upstairs.

"I'll be bringing Sakura to see some shinobi train tomorrow as her birthday present, did you two want to come?" Kizashi quietly asked his wife and nephew.

"I'll pass." Mebuki deadpanned.

"Me too, I want to work on my present… it's almost done!" Takeshi exclaimed. He had been working on a collage of their family for Sakura. He had finished it when they were travelling but after coming home, he decided to add more sections of his parents for Sakura.

"Then a father-daughter date it is." Kizashi stated excitedly.

* * *

Kizashi woke up with the sun shining through his bedroom window. He was glad that the funeral was over with and had the chance to say goodbye to his brother. The two had been close, despite their family having disowned Hiroki for becoming a shinobi and it was very hard for him to lose his only family left - at least the only family worth mentioning if you asked him.

He stretched and noticed he had something against his side so he opened his eyes to see Sakura kneeling beside him with a cheshire grin. She was trying her best to keep still but she was vibrating ever so slightly, unable to contain her excitement.

"I think today is a great day to clean the entire house and the yard. It could be a nice family activity, right Sakura-chan?" Kizashi playfully asked his daughter.

He was rewarded with an expression he loved to elicit from her; her eyes widened comically - the left one twitching occasionally - and her mouth moved but no sound escaped. She was too adorable when she was speechless and in utter disbelief and Kizashi couldn't help but laugh.

Sakura then narrowed her eyes and glared at him - his second favorite expression.

"You're too gullible sweetheart," He stated as he got out of bed "go get dressed." She was out of bed and gone pretty fast for a girl with the use of only one leg.

Kizashi sighed and got ready for his outing. Before the funeral he had no idea where shinobi trained so he had used the opportunity yesterday and asked the shinobi at his house where he could bring his daughter. The consensus was that they could enter the training grounds and as long as they did not hide their chakra, they would be alright. Kizashi didn't know how someone would hide their chakra but when the chunin mentioned it was something chunin and jonin did, he was fairly certain it wouldn't be a problem. Some of the shinobi even said that as long as Sakura didn't hide her chakra, they would be fine, stating that Kizashi didn't have enough chakra to be noticed unless someone was concentrating on it. Basically his daughter had more chakra than him and he should never walk in a training ground alone for fear that the shinobi that were busy training wouldn't notice him in time - a nice blow to his ego, that he had to be accompanied by a child. Kizashi had made sure to glare at that particular shinobi whenever the chance arose yesterday.

"Papa are you ready?" Sakura yelled from her bedroom.

"I'll meet you downstairs in twenty minutes!"

"Papa!"

"Fine, fine. Make it fifty!" Oh how he loved to bug her! He heard the rushed footsteps coming towards his room so he quickly jumped under the covers.

"You went back to bed instead of getting dressed?!" She yelled at him and it took a lot of effort for him not to burst out laughing. She grabbed the top blanket and pulled hard on it and fell to the ground in a heap.

"Are you cold sweetheart? Here, have more blankets!" Kizashi threw all the blankets from his bed onto Sakura and grabbed a few more that were folded to the side and even threw all the pillows onto her. He could hear her muffled laugh and he debated going around all the rooms and getting more blankets. His decision process took about 3 seconds and he ran to Sakura's room first, then Takeshi's room and finally the guest bedroom and gathered all the blankets and pillows. He hurried back and placed everything on his bed and waited for Sakura to peak through the blankets then he started throwing everything he had gathered at her.

By the time he was finished the blankets and pillows were blocking the door frame. "Mebuki! Takeshi! Can you come up here for a moment?" Kizashi was a born prankster and jokester and loved to make others laugh, and it was the perfect time for everyone to laugh after having the funeral the previous day.

"Kizashi what… did you...do?" Mebuki questioned confusedly.

A small laugh erupted from the blanket pile and Takeshi jumped on it. Miraculously he didn't injure Sakura and the two played around in the blankets as Mebuki and Kizashi shared a laugh.

"I am not cleaning up this mess," Mebuki informed her husband, "if you don't clean it up, no one gets any blankets tonight." She knew he would try to leave the mess for her to clean up; as usual.

"Yes, yes dear, I'll put everything away when we come back this afternoon… or evening if Sakura-chan would like to go visit Ino later?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I haven't seen her in forever!" Sakura somehow managed to throw all the blankets and Takeshi off of her as soon as she heard Ino's name. She got up and froze when she put weight on her leg. "What… what do I tell her about my leg? Shisui said I shouldn't tell anyone about it because it's a weakness." She trailed off and became very pensive. "But Ino's my friend, she wouldn't be fighting me."

Kizashi didn't know how to respond to Sakura's conundrum; he was tempted to let Sakura tell Ino since they were good friends but he just didn't know - he wished his brother was still alive, or that Shisui was in the village.

"Maybe you can just tell her that you hurt your leg and leave it at that for now." Mebuki always had the answer to a difficult question. Now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense.

Sakura hugged Mebuki tightly and suddenly threw a pillow at Kizashi with a wide grin before running away down the stairs. He chuckled and kissed his wife goodbye and ruffled Takeshi's hair before following his silly pink haired child down the stairs. She had already taken his shoes and coat out for him and he warmed at the sentiment until she spoke "This way you have no excuses to take forever to get ready." and she even had the audacity to stick her tongue out at him.

Kizashi played along and glared at her while getting ready and slowly made his way towards her. She had walked towards the street and was beaming a thousand watt smile at him as he stalked his prey. He picked up his pace and caught her before she too far away. She yelled as he tickled her relentlessly until she had tears of joy running down her face - she loved being tickled and he loved hearing her carefree laugh, it was a win-win situation for both of them.

As they got closer to the training grounds, her father put her down and walked with her, hand in hand. After having seen Itachi and Shisui's spar, Sakura was curious to see what regular shinobi were capable of doing, since she knew her two friends were the best of the best. She had seen her aunt and uncle spar once but it wasn't quite as exciting, they had been slower and more careful around each other.

She was excited to see the training but she was even more excited to see Ino again. She would have to explain why she hadn't been to school yet but also tell her that she would be going to school on Monday and they could sit together in class. This got Sakura thinking; if they weren't in the same class, then maybe they could sit together at lunch or when they were let outside to play. But if they weren't in the same class, who would Sakura sit with? She was already a few weeks late, so everyone probably already made their groups of friends and would-

Her thoughts were cut off as she felt something wet all over her face - as if someone had squirted water on her. She wiped it off and saw red everywhere. Her father pulled hard enough on her hand that she fell on the ground right before he laid down on top of her.

"Papa, you're heavy, get off." She pleaded. Were they under attack? Maybe he was protecting her. But when her father didn't move, she managed to wiggle her way out from under him with great difficulty and she saw why he didn't respond. There was a kunai in his neck and shoulder and all she could hear was some gurgling sounds coming from him.

She sat there terrified and breathing heavily and looked around frantically until she saw the tendril monster come out from the bushes and she screamed for help as loud as she possibly could. She kept screaming even when she felt a familiar chakra signature quickly coming towards her.

* * *

 _I know I haven't updated in a while, I've just been really busy and wasn't sure how to go about this chapter . Nonetheless, I managed to churn it out somehow!_

 _Let me know what you think and also if there is anything you hope will happen or what you hope won't happen/will be different in Sakura's behavior._

 _I already have the major events planned so I won't be changing those. I am going to try to do my best to keep Sakura close to canon, but seeing as so many things that are happening are not canon, it will affect the way she grows up._

 _Also, I'd love to know what you liked/disliked from the chapter :)_

End of chapter question:

Which character out of K12 would you like to see in the next few chapters?


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a while since he had a week off, but Akio thought he deserved it, especially after having been on a two-week long mission in Snow country. Even after coming back home, he felt like the cold had seeped through his bones and he would never warm up. He tried everything, but nothing worked. While in Snow, he channeled a bit of chakra to keep warm but didn't dare use too much that it would hinder his mission; as it was an ANBU mission and one wrong move could be deadly.

When he first returned home, he spent the entire evening channeling chakra through his body, took a hot shower that lasted until his skin was wrinkly and ran around the village until he couldn't walk anymore. Sure he was warm while he was doing all of this, but he would always cool down to the point of shivering soon after. Knowing that this wasn't normal, he figured that a trip to the hospital for a checkup couldn't do any harm.

He had tried to scan his body to find anything wrong but failed to do so. Granted it was hard for him to scan every single muscle and organ for any irregularities, he at least tried his best. Spotting injuries - cuts, bruises, even a big concentration of poison - was well within his skill set, but performing a thorough scan was still out of his reach for now.

Despite having learned some medical ninjutsu, he still avoided the hospital when it was in regards to his own health. The stagnant smell of cleaning products and medicine that was present in every hospital was reason enough to stay away from there, but the white walls and sterile environment only reinforced the idea that this was a place that people went to die. At least that's what the hospital represented during the war, but that notion remained in every active shinobi's mind, and it was almost a game to see how injured someone had to be in order to voluntarily go to the hospital.

That's why Akio had been walking around the village for the past hour, and was heading towards the training grounds. Maybe if another shinobi was injured, he could bring him or her to the hospital and get a check-up at the same time. It made sense; he didn't want to suffer alone.

The training grounds were fast approaching so he slowed his pace down until he was barely moving. His reluctance grew with every heavy step he took. At some point he was staring at a tree just half a meter from his face, tempted to scan the tree with medical ninjutsu to ensure it was in good health. That's when he realized he was being a bit ridiculous.

With a heavy sigh, he forced himself to walk towards the training grounds at a faster pace - about the speed of an elderly civilian with hip problems. At this pace, he figured it would give more shinobi time to get injured; which would mean more company at the hospital.

He suddenly felt a familiar chakra signature flare in the training grounds and started running towards it. He couldn't quite put his finger on whose chakra it was but he knew he felt it before. He heard the screams - that of a young girl it seemed - and the memory of a broken pink haired child flashed before his eyes. He had to shake away the bad memory; as he wanted to be in a state of perfect awareness in case he needed to defend someone. But he remembered that he was in the village, a child shouldn't be screaming like this, with terror lacing her voice. He cut through the trees and landed in an opening where he saw the last child he wanted to see in this scenario; she had already been through enough to last her a lifetime.

He could see her staring away from him towards the bushes and she was screaming, telling someone to stay away - who, Akio couldn't tell since there was no one else in the clearing with them. Again, he saw the body lying on the ground and blood saturating the area around the girl. And again, she was covered in blood. He quickly ran to the girl and tried to break her out of the genjutsu - why else would she be staring at nothing - but the 'kai' and chakra he channeled through her didn't make her snap out of it.

He looked down and saw that the man had two kunai embedded in him and his heart sank. Akio hurried and knelt down beside the man to heal his wounds. He didn't bother scanning the body as the kunai in the man's neck looked pretty serious. It seemed as if Akio had found someone to bring to the hospital with him after all.

He didn't notice when the girl stopped screaming but he did notice that she was standing on two shaky legs in a defensive stance while still staring at the bushes.

"Go away!" She yelled at no one.

Akio could feel some killing intent near him and had to do a double take to make sure it was actually coming from the child. It wasn't strong enough to be very effective but the fact that she was capable of emitting even a little bit of killing intent was a bit startling.

"Hey... little girl!" Akio called out. He realized he had never learned her name when they had saved her and he struggled to remember how Shisui had addressed her that day.

The girl didn't respond to his voice, so he did what one of Kakashi's dog did to get her attention; he inflicted a minute amount of pain on her hand to jolt her out of her hallucination. He extended his hand towards hers and created a small electric shock from his finger and that did the trick. She turned around and he saw her completely broken expression; it was just as bad as he remembered.

"ANBU-san, can I do anything to help?" She asked quietly.

Akio had to glance down at his clothes to make sure he hadn't accidentally put his ANBU clothes on - did she remember him from before, or was it just a coincidence. He glanced down at the man and decided that she could in fact help.

"I'll need you to remove the kunai in his neck when I tell you. Can you do that?" He felt comfortable that he could stop the bleeding if he focused all his efforts and to do that he would need a few seconds of prep time and both his hands. He cursed his inability heal with only one hand, but he knew that only a few people in the history of Konoha were able to do that and they were either all dead or were no longer affiliated with the village.

"I… don't know if…" she trailed off but Akio saw a flicker of determination cross her face and she said "Yes. I can do it. I'll do it. Because I have to."

A small smile crept up on his face as Akio did the necessary hand signs and placed both his hands on the dying man's neck. He focused on stitching the skin back together then told the girl to remove the kunai. Surprisingly there was no hesitation from the girl and he felt proud of her.

The bleeding slowed to a stop and Akio hoped that this man would survive. That hope was quickly thrown away when he performed a quick scan of his body. Some idiot had coated the kunai with poison.

"Fuck!" He yelled and quickly hauled the man over his right shoulder then grabbed the girl and held her with his left arm. "He needs a better doctor, hold on kid."

The girl flinched but held on to Akio. "Why? What's wrong?" she panicked.

He hesitated for a moment but realized that she would eventually find out at the hospital anyways so he might as well tell her. He ran through the trees like the devil was on his heels and told the girl that he had found poison.

"How did this happen, kid?" When the girl didn't say anything for ten seconds, Akio continued "Come on, I won't be the only one asking soon, you might as well use me as a warmup."

"I don't know. We-we were heading to the training grounds to watch people train. Papa was bringing me for my birthday, he said we were allowed." She said quietly. "I was thinking of stuff then… I don't know. There was blood everywhere and the kunai…" the girl trailed off.

This gave Akio something to think about for the short run to the hospital. He was sure that no one purposely attacked a civilian, which meant that it was an accident. The problem was that an accident like that had never happened before; civilians kept out of the training grounds unless accompanied by a shinobi.

He really hoped that the man would regain consciousness sometime soon, it would help a lot with the investigation that was bound to happen. He was the only one that could explain what had happened. At least he hoped the man would know.

He walked through the hospital doors with the man and girl in tow and rushed to the receptionist. "I need a doctor who knows poisons, fast! This man is dying." He urged. It was a shame the poisons expert had died the last time Akio had saved the young girl in his arms.

* * *

The doctors spent a few hours trying to get rid of the poison from the dying man and Akio had helped out as best he could but it was futile. They were not able to get rid of all the poison coursing through his veins and Akio knew that the man's days were numbered. The poison was slowly shutting down his organs one by one though they weren't able to determine the sequence so no one knew how long he had left to live. If was only a matter of time before the poison attacked a vital organ.

Akio had convinced the doctors to let the girl - Sakura he had learned - stay with her father even when they healed him. It was pretty easy once he reminded them that her father could die at any moment, and it would be cruel to separate a child from their parent. When he wasn't helping with the healing since it was too advanced for him, he sat with Sakura and got to know the girl a bit more. The only issue was that she was very quiet and only answered in very short sentences.

He tried his best to keep Sakura distracted but he could tell he wasn't doing a fantastic job at it, especially with the heart monitor beeping loudly in the quiet room. He found it unfortunate that he kept seeing this girl when she was in a state of despair; first her aunt and uncle and now her father. It hadn't even been a month since he saved her from the S-rank missing nin. And he thought _he_ was having a bad month having been cold for a few weeks.

He wasn't aware that two of his teammates had stayed in contact with Sakura and it pleased him quite a bit. Shisui and Itachi were very peculiar shinobi. Well at least he knew Shisui was and from what little he had seen Itachi and from the stories that Shisui had told him, it was safe to assume that Itachi was even more peculiar than his cousin.

It had taken Akio and Genma several weeks to finally force - more like annoy - Shisui to have lunch with them. It was all because Shisui was afraid to get to close to others and lose them. Which only served to fuel Akio's curiosity on what had drawn Shisui to Sakura - they made for an odd pair.

"I should get Mama and Takeshi-kun before…" Sakura trailed off as she got up from her seat. She looked worse for wear, especially since she hadn't cleaned all the blood off of herself. She looked as bloody as what Akio imagined the demon of the mist did after he had killed over a hundred academy students. Just looking at her gave him shivers.

The thought of her father dying when she was gone didn't sit well with him, so Akio got up and put his hand on her shoulder. "You should stay with your father, I can go get them for you." He didn't mention that is was also an excuse to get out of the hospital and delay his own checkup.

Sakura leaned her head on his hand and nodded and he felt some tension leave her body. She limped her way to her father's bed and climbed up on it. She was sitting at her father's feet and was watching him sleep, occasionally glancing at the heart monitor. He was still amazed that she was able to move around half decently despite having a shattered leg. He remembered the state of her leg when his team had saved her and he was fairly certain that there was no way the leg would be of use anymore. But somehow she was able to put a bit of weight on it; either the leg was getting better or she was very good at handling pain and hiding it. Yet another thing he would want to talk to her about in the near future.

After getting Sakura's home address, he took off quickly and headed to the house. Even though he dreaded going back to the hospital, he knew it had to be done and quickly. There was no answer when he knocked at the door, so he decided to let himself in - it's what all shinobi would do in this case. He quickly looked around to make sure no one was home, then went to work to leave a note for Sakura's mother. He thought about finding her but it would take very long seeing as she probably didn't have a strong enough chakra signature if she had one at all, and plus he wasn't familiar with it. It was strange to think that a note was the best method of communication at the moment.

Instead of writing one note, he wrote ten and placed them at different locations where he thought Sakura's mother would not miss it - he wanted to make sure she saw the note and went to the hospital as soon as she got home.

With his task completed, Akio took a moment outside to breathe and relax; as he had been in medic mode for quite some time now. His medic mode consisted if being on edge and hyper aware of everything happening around him every second. He actively searched for other chakra signatures in the area to assess if there were any enemies in the area. He had to keep reminding himself that he was in the village, but every time he did, he was thought of Sakura's father who had received a poisoned kunai to the throat in the same village.

He walked past a bench just outside Sakura's house and looked up at the sky. His thoughts were interrupted by a senbon implanting itself right next to him into the backrest of the bench. There was only one man that Akio knew who loved to use senbon and was deadly accurate with them. Genma.

"I guess you never really know someone. Since when do you know any civilian?" The brown haired tokubetsu jonin asked teasingly.

Akio gazed at his friend and tried to smile but it ended up as a strained grimace. He took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Long story Genma, very long story."

Genma sat down and rested his hands behind his head, getting in a comfortable position "My next mission is in three days, is that long enough?" he teased.

"Do you remember the girl that taicho, Shisui, Itachi and I saved?"

"Yeah the girl that had to watch the missing nins kill her parents and lost the use of a leg?"

"Yeah but I found out a few interesting things today about that. The two that died were her aunt and uncle, not her parents…" Akio trailed off, not sure how to explain his second discovery of the day.

"Well I guess that's a relief. At least she has her parents to take care of her."

"Soon she'll only have her mother. Her father is dying."

"Shit." Was Genma's only response.

"I spent the morning trying to heal him and keep him from dying."

"Wait, what? How did you come across the man?"

"He was walking in the training grounds with her. He wanted her to see shinobi train as a birthday present." Akio took a short pause to take a few deep breaths. "Seems the ones training didn't sense them and her father got hit by two kunai. The one in his throat was deep, but I could have saved him if the kunai wasn't coated in poison."

"Are you fucking kidding me? People were using poison in a spar in an uncontrolled environment?" Genma exclaimed loudly.

"Yeah, it's something I'm going to have to bring up to Hokage-sama."

"I guess the poisons expert from Intelligence wasn't able to neutralize it in time then?"

Akio chuckled half-heartedly at his friend - oh was he in for a treat. "The poisons expert was that little girl's uncle."

Genma opened his mouth to speak and promptly closed it when realization dawned on him "You're lying. Please tell me you're lying. You mean to say that this little girl, who had to watch her aunt and uncle get brutally massacred and was injured to the point where she can't use her leg anymore is about to lose her father and the only man who could have saved him is the one she saw get ripped apart. It hasn't even been an entire month since their deaths for fuck's sake!"

"Life isn't always fair, Genma, you know this." Akio said quietly. Genma had seen his own father get killed during the third shinobi war and he had mourned for a few years. He had spent a few months avoiding his friends and training himself to exhaustion yet refusing to sleep until the Fourth Hokage asked him to be part of his guard platoon. Akio didn't think Genma would have survived had Minato not approached him

"Keep an eye on her, Akio. Make sure she's alright."

"Luckily for us Shisui and Itachi spend lots of time with her when they're in town. I think I may start doing the same if she wants me around." Akio felt that anyone in Sakura's position would be on the brink of destruction. She had been through enough and Akio just wanted things to end up somewhat decently for her. He knew she wanted to be a shinobi and he thought that maybe he could help her somehow, but he doubted she would be able to do much more than be a paper nin, stuck behind a desk.

"How or why did they-"

"That's something you'll have to wait to ask them, I know that's what I'll be doing when they get back. Did you want to come meet her? I want to head back as soon as possible."

"I can't, man. Kurenai asked a few of us to help her train since she wants to become a jonin in a few years."

"Kurenai wants to become a jonin? I thought she wanted to be an academy teacher. She's only good at genjutsu, really."

"She said something about wanting to have a genin team, so she needs to become well rounded. It'll take a while but she seems pretty determined."

Kurenai never stood out to Akio, she was an uninteresting shinobi with meager talents, but it seemed there was something she was striving for. She had finally found a goal where she would have to step outside of her comfort zone. Akio had seen her spar before and noticed that she relied on her genjutsu ability far too often. As soon as she was brought into a taijutsu or ninjutsu battle, she instantly lost, but hopefully with the extra training, she wouldn't be as terrible. He found it admirable that she was going to work on her weaknesses.

The two men parted ways, and Akio hurried to the hospital. He knocked quietly on the hospital room door to not startle Sakura or her father - if he was awake of course. When he didn't get an answer he slowly opened the door and walked in to see Sakura laying at her father's feet, fast asleep. The only sound he heard was the constant beeping of the heart monitor. Akio looked up at Sakura's father and realized the man was awake. Sure his eyes were very droopy and he was as white as a sheet, but at least he was conscious for the moment.

Akio walked over and gave him a glass of water. He ran a quick check and noticed that the poison was spreading at an alarming rate - at this rate he may not last until nightfall. The green glow from his ninjutsu gave the pale man a very sickly color and Akio couldn't bring himself to look at his face.

"I'm not going to make it am I?"

"I'm sorry umm... Sir. It doesn't look like it." Akio informed the dying man.

"You can call me Kizashi. Do you know if Sakura's alright?"

"She's ok physically. Well I mean she's not in worse shape than usual. Emotionally she seems pretty distant and very worried, though I don't know her that well. I've only seen her around dying-" Akio cut himself off, already having said one word too many. He didn't think reminding Kizashi that he was going to die was the best idea. Akio often wondered why he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and this time he was getting very close to asking the Hokage if there was a seal or a jutsu that he could use to prevent him from putting his foot in his own mouth.

"What do you mean you've only seen her around dying people? Were you part of Shisui's team when my brother…" Kizashi trailed off, but Akio was a little surprised that the man had pieced everything together.

"Yeah, I healed Sakura as best as possible, but I'm not a fully-fledged medic nin. I did see the extent of the damage her leg sustained though. She's doing better than I expected if I'm completely honest with you." He felt proud of Sakura for being able to move around albeit at a slow pace.

"She's a good kid." Kizashi said fondly as he looked at the curled up girl at his feet. He entered a coughing fit and Akio hurriedly soothed his aches to at least minimize the pain. The raspy sound emanating from Kizashi's lungs was definitely not a good sign.

"Why did you bring her to the training grounds, Kizashi? Civilians know not to wander in that area." Akio asked abruptly, hoping to find out before Kizashi died - it was a cruel thought and Akio knew it but he may not get another chance to ask.

Kizashi chuckled lightly to cover up a few coughs and took a deep breath. His lungs were slowly filling up with fluid and he imagined he may find out what it's like to drown shortly. "We held the wake for my brother yesterday and that's when a shinobi said the reason civilians shouldn't go to the training ground is because our chakra signature isn't noticeable enough for shinobi if they're distracted. So he said that I should be able to walk through the training grounds with Sakura since she has more chakra and it's noticeable. Basically I have to be accompanied by my daughter in order to wander around safely. I guess that wasn't the case and I got hit with a couple of stray kunai. Wrong place at the wrong time I guess."

What Kizashi said made sense. When training, everyone always paid attention to the chakra signatures in the near vicinity to make sure no one was caught off guards or injured. This was especially true when genin trained; it was the higher ranking shinobi's duty to not accidentally maim or kill the genin. Plus Akio had felt Sakura's chakra earlier that day and the ones training should have easily noticed her. He would understand the incident a bit more if the girl's chakra was barely noticeable but for a kid, it was a pretty strong signature even though she didn't have a large chakra pool.

The only explanation was that the shinobi training had been careless which Akio knew was the case seeing as one of them had a poison coated kunai. When Hiroki had died there were several meetings and postings everywhere in the jonin headquarters that anyone who used poison in an uncontrolled environment could be demoted.

It had been fairly uncommon but Hiroki had been called to cure the poison in a shinobi's system after a spar a few times, but typically, jonin would request Hiroki to be present during their spar as a safety measure.

The only thing Akio could do in this case was report the incident to the Hokage if it hadn't already been done.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Akio said solemnly.

"It sucks because my wife was just finally warming up to the idea of Sakura becoming a shinobi." Kizashi chuckled and coughed simultaneously, grasping his chest for some relief.

The movement woke Sakura up and she crawled up to her father and hugged him. "Papa, you're awake! You're alive." She sobbed. Akio could hear the relief in her voice and couldn't bring himself to tell her that her father was definitely dying.

"Sakura-chan, you should go get yourself cleaned up and find your mother and Takeshi." Kizashi tried to sound optimistic but he wanted his family here so he could see them all one last time. He also couldn't bring himself to tell Sakura that he was dying.

Sakura wiped her eyes and nose and gave Kizashi such a bright smile it actually pained Akio. She didn't deserve all this loss. He watched as she hopped to the bathroom to clean up and he walked over to the window. Akio looked outside at the busy streets and said "I left a note for your wife and nephew to come to the hospital. I hope they get here soon." Akio really didn't know what to say to the man. He was at a loss for words and his mind kept going back to Sakura and what she had been through.

"Sakura-chan was supposed to start the academy this year but with everything that happened, she hasn't been to school one day yet. I know she will be such a great shinobi, I wish I could be there to see her grow up and become a beautiful and caring woman."

To say Akio was feeling slightly uncomfortable would be an understatement. It felt like Kizashi was saying his final words which should be reserved for his family. He was tempted to go knock on the washroom door to see if Sakura had finished cleaning off the blood or maybe even help her when the door to the hospital room opened and a woman with dark blonde hair and a worried expression entered and a young boy, barely a teen - if that - with light brown hair followed in right after with unshed tears in his eyes following right behind her. The woman paused as soon as she saw Kizashi laying in the bed, looking sickly.

"Are you alright Kizashi? Where's Sakura, is she hurt? What happened?" The woman began asking tons of questions until Kizashi interrupted her.

"She's not hurt, she's just in the washroom cleaning up."

As if on cue, Sakura came out of the bathroom looking much cleaner. She still had some dry blood around her hairline and she wasn't able to remove the blood stains on her clothes, but at least she didn't remind Akio of the demon of the most anymore.

When Akio saw Sakura's mother rush over and hold the girl, he knew it was his cue to leave and get his check-up done. Though he didn't feel cold all day since finding Sakura, he could feel the coldness creeping back into his body which was not a good sign at all; as it made him realize it may be all in his head.

Akio bid the family farewell and silently left the room. He was a bit shell shocked at the fact that something could be wrong with him mentally and made a note to go see the Hokage once the doctor had diagnosed him. He walked to the receptionist with a strong sense of fear resonating throughout his body.

* * *

 **A/N at the bottom of the chapter this time.**

 **Sorry it's taking a while for chapters, but I am having a hard time fleshing out these next few chapters. I think I am too excited to write the chapters when she becomes genin, but that will have to wait a while, there is still so many things that must happen beforehand.**

 **Let me know what you think of this chapter! I find Kurenai pretty lackluster in canon, so I tried to sort of build her up a little bit. I won't be changing the fights of most characters too much, just mostly what happens due to Sakura's changes. So Kurenai will obviously not be a match for Itachi should she see him and Kisame in the village, but she wouldn't solely rely on genjutsu. She will get defeated just as easily. Just a forewarning for many chapters in the future; the fights will be tougher and talking before/during a battle will not be tolerated lol.**

 **That's one thing that I dislike, is when opponents spend like 20 minutes talking instead of fighting. The fights will be more brutal and the villains more ruthless.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next few chapters will have a similar slow pace to this one, but soon things will pick up.**

 **I swear Sakura will eventually end up in the academy and we will meet Ino too!**

 **I'm sort of slowly starting to introduce canon characters into the story. Some of them will have important roles, others will have very minor roles. Only time will tell.**


	9. Chapter 9

**The story is coming along slowly, but it will start to pick up very shortly. I would love to know what you guys think of it so far, I'm assuming some of the characters are/will be OOC seeing as different events happen so they will be slightly different. I'm really excited for Sakura to go to the academy finally!**

 **I hope to be able to update a new chapter within the next month, but work is picking up since it's summer and the construction industry is in full force.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this short chapter, let me know if you would prefer to wait a bit longer for a longer chapter, if you would prefer to wait less time for a smaller chapter, or if this sized chapter every month ish is good.**

* * *

Sakura spent most of her time in the washroom staring at herself in the mirror. It was hard to see the little girl who - just over a month ago - had never seen more blood than what resulted from a lightly scraped knee.

She had wanted to vomit when she had seen the demon tearing through her aunt's rib cage and again when he did the same to her uncle, but she managed to refrain from doing so since she was in agony.

As a result of all her hallucinations and nightmares, she was now accustomed to blood and even seeing herself covered in her father's blood didn't make her flinch, she only hoped her father would make it through. She ran the water and slowly began to scrub the blood off her face, watching it drain down the sink - at least her tears were helping with removing the dry blood off her face. Sakura managed to get most of the blood off by the time she heard the door to the hospital room open and her mother start asking her father questions about their possible injuries.

Sakura quickly dried her hands and walked out of the washroom to be with her family. Almost as soon as she stepped into the room she felt her mother's arms encircle her and hold on to her ever so tightly.

"I feared the worst when I heard you two were in the hospital." Her mother sobbed quietly in Sakura's hair.

Sakura glanced at Akio who was standing there looking deep in thought. There was something in his expression that worried Sakura but she didn't know why until his eyes met hers and he gave her a strained, sad smile.

"I'm glad your family's here with you Kizashi, I have a few things to do right now." Akio said softly, turning to leave the room. He stopped when his hand rested on the door knob and he turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, there's a few things I'd like to show you at some point. I'll come find you one day."

Sakura kept looking at him while her family bid their farewells, thinking what if this was the last time she saw Akio? She had already lost her aunt and uncle without being able to tell them how much she loved them. At least with her father she should be able to spend his last moments with him and tell him how she feels and thank him for being the perfect father.

She had learned that life was short and death could claim someone's life at any moment so she promised herself she would never shy away from her emotions and express her gratefulness and love to everyone who deserved it.

With that in mind, she managed to escape her mom's loose hug and hopped towards Akio, who was very slowly walking down the hall. She called his name but he didn't stop or turn around. Sakura feared that maybe coming to see him was a mistake but she reminded herself that she would regret it if she didn't thank him and never saw him again. She reached him the second door down from her father's room and hugged him as hard as she could, trying her best to quell her tears as he turned towards her.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank You, Akio-san. Thanks for keeping my papa alive for a little longer so we can laugh and talk and say goodbye." Sakura sobbed - it turns out it was hard for her to keep a hold on her emotions. She felt a bit embarrassed but was relieved when Akio's hand rested on her head.

"You didn't have to come out here to thank me." He said quietly "You should spend as much time with your father as possible."

"I know, but I had to tell you that I'm happy that I know you. Not just because you keep showing up when people are dying, but I feel safe with you. I know you're a good guy." Sakura said and looked up at him with a bright smile.

Akio finally returned her broad smile with a small one that managed to reach his eyes despite his health worries.

"You should go see your father, Sakura-chan. I can come see you later this week if you'd like. There's something I may get you to try." Akio said sadly. Sakura didn't know why he was sad but she debated if she should ask him. A few moments later, after gathering up the courage to ask him, she looked up and he was gone. With that, she hopped back to her father's room and sat beside Takeshi on the bed.

* * *

It was a tiring day for Mebuki and unfortunately she knew it was all downhill from that day onwards. She had been frantic when she entered her home after going to the market with Takeshi and found several notes lying around the house telling her to go to the hospital as soon as possible.

When she walked into the hospital room for "Haruno" and saw her husband in bed with no sign of Sakura anywhere, she feared for the worst - was Sakura dead? Thankfully Sakura had not been hurt, but Mebuki saw the dried blood around her daughter's hairline and didn't like it.

Kizashi had informed them of everything and Mebuki was at a loss for words. Her whole world came crashing down - she wasn't ready to be a single parent - but she tried to be strong for Sakura and Takeshi and not show her doubts. There were several things that she and Kizashi needed to talk about privately but she didn't want to send the two kids off on their own; she wanted them close to Kizashi for as long as possible.

Her husband's health was visibly deteriorating even over the few hours she had been at the hospital. Strangely enough, this was the first time Mebuki was seeing someone die before her eyes. Sure her family had passed away several years ago, but it had all been from natural causes and she hadn't seen them sick; she had only been informed of their passing.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Kizashi's hand while running her other hand through a sleeping Sakura's hair when Kizashi started a coughing fit. She could hear his fluid filled coughs and his struggles to take deep breaths and she realized that his time was running out quickly. She gave him a glass of water and steeled herself for the upcoming conversation with him.

"I don't think Sakura should go to the academy. I've been thinking about it and I want to bring her with me when I go to Suna and for the next few years." She said quietly, hoping to not wake Sakura up because her daughter would obviously either object loudly or start to cry.

"Honey, I don't think that's a good idea, she really wants to go to the academy and we already told her that she would be going." Kizashi rebutted softly.

"She's six years old, she can't live on her own for weeks at a time with no one to check up on her. It would have been fine if Hiroki or Natsuko were around, but there isn't anyone else that could be there for her."

Kizashi sighed and looked over at Sakura who was sleeping next to Takeshi with a small frown marring her face. "Maybe Shisui and that other Uchiha could keep an eye on her from time to time? I'm not sure what to tell you Mebuki but I think Sakura needs to go to the academy."

"I don't want to lie to you Kiza but you won't be the one who is a single parent. You've fought for her to become a shinobi, and I've relented. I think she could have been a wonderful shinobi if she had use of her leg. If she becomes a shinobi, the best she'll do is paperwork which she will be amazing at, she's so smart, but I remember Natsuko and Hiroki had a hard time becoming chunin due to the combat evaluation."

"Even if it takes her a long time to become chunin, she'll make it." Kizashi stated confidently.

"I'm sorry, but she's coming with me. I can call the academy and withdraw her enrollment."

"Please don't, if you force her to go with you and prevent her from going to the academy, she will resent you for a long, long time. She would probably still go to the academy in ten years if it gave her the chance to become a shinobi, and when she does, she'll have ten years less experience than everyone else which lowers her chances of survival and advancement if that's the path she wants to take."

"She'll be safe. I'll be happy if she resents me and stays alive. There are very strong people in the world, I don't want anything to happen to her. She's already been through enough. I was fine with her going to the academy last week, but she'll be home alone now and the village is clearly not a safe place after seeing what happened to you." Mebuki was starting to have a hard time fighting back the tears threatening to fall. Kizashi held her hand and squeezed it for comfort. Even if he was the one dying, he was comforting her.

"I know how you feel, but by seeing what happened to my brother she knows more about her mortality and she's told me she's going to work hard to become one of the strongest, or at least one of the fastest so she can run away from everything." Kizashi chuckled lightly.

"Why are you fighting this for her so much?" Mebuki asked. She didn't know what Kizashi saw in Sakura to be so certain she would be a good shinobi. Mebuki was confident in her daughter's intelligence, but not so much in the physical department, Sakura had never been strong or too athletic and now that her leg was broken she couldn't even walk around normally.

"Do you remember the story I told you about the blond haired boy's saviour?" Kizashi asked his wife.

Mebuki nodded and remembered that her husband had told her about someone saving a blonde haired child that was being bullied. Mebuki thought it was very admirable for someone to do something so selfless and brave for a stranger and wished that all shinobi were like that.

"I never told you who the saviour was because I thought you wouldn't approve." At this, Mebuki looked at Kizashi as realization dawned on her. She glanced at Sakura who was still soundly asleep and let a few tears fall. She was torn between being proud of her daughter and feeling like Sakura was being reckless.

It was a known fact that Mebuki disliked shinobi. Her experiences with shinobi had always been negative until she met Hiroki and Natsuko, but to her, they were the exception to the rule. The shinobi who were guarding her parents had fled when a group of bandits ambushed them, and ever since then Mebuki refused to hire any shinobi to escort them outside the village.

Before Mebuki had met Kizashi, she had gone to bars with her friends for celebrations and every single time, there were several shinobi trying to pick them up, touting they were elite shinobi that everyone admired and civilians would be lucky to be seen with them. After Mebuki had turned a few of them down, they began to insult her, call her a prude, a snob, a bitch and a whore - the little bit of admiration she had for shinobi had promptly disappeared.

"It was a cute little pink haired girl who stood up to them. Hiroki and I stepped in, but we were curious when we saw her running towards the boy.

"She was being reckless. She could have gotten hurt." Mebuki tried to tell Kizashi which only serves to make the man chuckle.

"You're only saying that because she's your daughter. I saw your expression when you looked at her just now, she's exactly what you wish all the shinobi were like."

Mebuki knew her husband was right, she was just grasping at straws now to try to persuade him that it was a bad idea. She was incredibly torn on the subject of Sakura becoming a shinobi, one second she wanted to let Sakura go to the academy, but the next she feared for her safety. Then Kizashi would talk her into allowing Sakura to go, but the nagging feeling that Sakura would never be in good physical shape would rear its ugly head.

"If I let her become a shinobi and I end up having to bury her that would be the end of me." Mebuki whispered.

Having grown up with a strict family, Mebuki had always been chastised about her decisions, so much so that even now she was afraid of making the wrong one. Her self-confidence was non-existent when she was younger until Kizashi had worked tirelessly to make her see the good in herself. She was a changed, confident woman who took her profession seriously and excelled at it. Kizashi always told her that she was the brains of the operation and without her they would be poor but she had refused to believe that until she took a year off after giving birth to Sakura. Kizashi had struggled that year but thankfully they had a fair bit of savings to carry them through the year.

Mebuki's self-confidence had plummeted once again after Sakura was born - she had to take care of another human being and one wrong move could ruin her only child's life. She wanted to keep Sakura safe at all times and almost gave up her profession as a merchant to stay at home with her daughter. She had already spoken to Kizashi about bringing Sakura with them after Hiroki and Natsuko's funeral and Kizashi had said that one of them could stay home with Sakura from time to time.

But now that Kizashi was… not well, that wasn't an option anymore. She thought about staying home for Sakura but that would mean forcing Takeshi to stay home too and he had a very promising future as a merchant. Mebuki was faced with an impossible decision, one she wished she didn't have to make alone.

"I would say it's best to talk to both Sakura and Takeshi, but we both know what they'll say. Takeshi will want to stay home so Sakura can follow her dream and Sakura will want to go with you to make sure Takeshi can follow his dream. If either of these scenarios happen, no one will truly be happy, but I guess you would be giving Sakura the choice so she may not be angry with you for now." Kizashi said softly, taking the words out of Mebuki's mouth.

Kizashi had always been her voice of reason and she was glad. She usually made rash decisions without fully thinking of the consequences which frequently got her in trouble when growing up. Soon, she would have to be making all the decisions and it scared her. She would no longer have a voice of reason but she made a mental promise to try to give herself a day before making any big decision so she could calm down and think it through.

"I'll talk to them tomorrow after I've thought about everything. I hope you know that I'm mad at you for leaving me like this Kiza-kun." Mebuki teased without an ounce of anger in her voice. If she didn't tease him she would be crying, and she knew she would be doing her fair share of crying for the rest of her life.

"Honey, can you go get a doctor please? The pain's getting worse."

Mebuki ruffled Sakura and Takeshi's hair quickly to wake them up and told them to spend time with Kizashi as she left the room to go get a doctor. Oh how she hoped it wasn't his time quite yet, she wasn't ready for this.

* * *

It was early the next morning when Mebuki carried Sakura and Takeshi home after her husband had passed away. Mebuki was emotional spent and just wanted to retreat from her life for a few days to recoup.

And that's what she did for 3 days. She felt guilty about not doing anything for Sakura and Takeshi but both children had insisted that they take care of her for once. Mebuki didn't think Sakura would have been able to do much but to her surprise, her daughter was doing extremely well.

Sakura and Takeshi managed to go to the market and buy enough food to last them for a few meals and Takeshi had even cooked for the three of them every day. Mebuki had watched Sakura try to help her cousin with enthusiasm but as expected of a six year old, she helped a little and made a mess more often than not. She made a mental note to teach Sakura very basic recipes so she could cook on her own since she was showing that she was able to live by herself for the most part.

On the second day while both children were out of the house, Mebuki contemplated organizing the funeral but it was the last thing she wanted to do. She still wasn't ready to say goodbye to Kizashi, she still needed him.

Mebuki had moved from her bed to the sofa and picked up her latest book Tale as Old as Time when she heard Sakura laughing loudly outside. She was a bit peeved that her daughter wasn't mourning and was actually laughing. She had half a mind to go outside and reprimand her but she thought back to her promise to take some time to think about her decisions and stayed inside.

She went to the window and looked outside only to see Sakura being carried by Shisui. There was another boy standing still off to the side of the pair watching them with a blank expression. To Mebuki, this other boy almost seemed like a robot, not showing the slightest trace of emotion and it rubbed her the wrong way.

She looked at both her children - she had always considered Takeshi one of hers just like Hiroki and Natsuko also considered Sakura one of theirs - and locked eyes with Takeshi. He was giving her a genuine smile and waved at her, motioning her to come see them. Mebuki still didn't feel up to seeing other people but it was hard for her to say no to Takeshi; the boy rarely ever asked for anything and she wasn't going to deny him just because she didn't want to deal with life at the moment.

So she put her book down and took a few deep breaths. She reminded herself to keep calm and finally have a real conversation with Shisui. She had not been very nice the first and only time she had seen him, basically telling him that he'll never be able to see her daughter again because shinobis were trash.

Steeling herself for the possible confrontation - she always expected the worst when dealing with shinobis - she opened the door and stepped out of the house.

"Mama!" Sakura cried out in joy.

Shisui turned around to face Mebuki and she noticed the boy's half-hopeful half-defeated expression.

"I'm sorry, we just came back from a mission and I wanted to see Sakura. We'll be leaving now." Shisui put Sakura down gently and ruffled her hair, earning a beaming smile from the pink haired girl before he turned around to leave.

"Wait." Mebuki said quietly. When the two Uchiha stopped in their tracks, she found the courage to do what Kizashi had wanted. "I would like it if you two could join us for dinner tonight."

The shocked expression on all three of the children's faces - of course the robot did not react, he probably wasn't programmed to do so - were comical enough that Mebuki tried her best not to laugh. She almost wanted to reprimand herself like she had wanted to do to Sakura but found that it felt good to remember the feeling of laughter.

"I am sorry Haruno-san, but I have to go see my family and I am sure they've missed me while I have been on my mission." The robot stated monotonously. Mebuki tried her best not to cringe at the probable automated response from the robot, and turned to look at Shisui, expecting him to come to his senses soon and respond.

"Ummm… sure, I would love to. The only home cooked meals I get is when I weasel my way into Itachi's family dinners." Shisui said while scratching the back of his head nervously.

Mebuki didn't fail to see Sakura's eyes light up as she hugged Shisui with all her might. The two were obviously close and it would be wrong to split them apart just because of her own prejudice. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea if Sakura stayed in the village as long as Shisui was able to help out from time to time.

As soon as Shisui and Itachi left to go report in to the Hokage, Mebuki enlisted Sakura and Takeshi to help her with the cooking for the evening. Though she really didn't want to do any productive that day, for Sakura's sake she decided to start small by making a conscious effort to get to know Shisui.

* * *

"Did you two want to come with me tomorrow to make funeral arrangements?" Mebuki asked the two children who were finishing up the dishes while their roast finished cooking in the oven. She was dreading having to deal with another funeral arrangement but it was something she had to do.

She noticed the two share a look, silently asking each other who was going to speak up. Mebuki noticed the deep bond that the two shared even if they very seldom saw each other. Even though they were 6 years apart, they were close and she hoped that their relationship would stay just as strong as they both followed their own paths in life.

"Mama," Sakura began with uncertainty.

Mebuki didn't think she would be able to arrange for everything by herself without becoming a sobbing mess so she began to think of ways to bribe them to go with her. She had an aversion to death and hospitals and funerals that stemmed from her childhood and without Kizashi, she no longer had someone to lean onto.

"Mama, we already did the arrangements for Papa." Sakura said meekly.

At that, Mebuki didn't know what to say so she stared at Sakura, trying to process how those two had become adults overnight.

"We just did the same thing we did for my parents. We're sorry, we were just trying to help." Takeshi apologized.

"We didn't go see everyone in the village to let them know but we thought you would want to be there for that." Sakura continued

It almost seemed as if the two had either choreographed the conversation perfectly or they were very much in sync with each other and could finish each other's sentences. Mebuki stared at the children for a while longer and couldn't help keep down the smile that crept onto her face.

"You two are amazing, you know?" Mebuki said softly and hugged them close to her chest. She didn't care that she was crying in front of them, she was just so happy to have such amazing children that loved her and were so mature. It was the first time since Kizashi's death that Mebuki thought she would be able to move on and be functional with the help of her family.

* * *

Once the dishes were done and the food was ready, Sakura didn't have anything to occupy herself with so she began inching her way closer to the front door. She didn't realize how much she missed Shisui until she saw him and Itachi that afternoon.

She was a bit worried about Itachi since he had been acting weird. Usually he would show little smiles every now and then and his face would soften when she saw him, but he didn't even smile once that afternoon and she made a mental note to ask Shisui about it.

"Sakura-Chan, did you want to go wait outside for Shisui? You're practically out the door already" Her mother teased light-heartedly.

Sakura turned around and saw that she was only several steps away from the door. Her face flushed a bit from her mother's teasing and she suddenly felt Shisui's chakra coming closer to her house. Her face lit up and she happily announced that he was nearby, opening the door for him.

As soon as Shisui saw her, a beaming smile adorned his face and he body flickered right in front of Sakura to tussle her hair.

"Shisui! Takeshi and me helped Mama make the food for you. She did most of the difficult parts, but I think I could make food by myself soon, Mama said I was growing up fast." Sakura spluttered barely coherently.

"Takeshi and I, Sakura." Her mother corrected her.

Sakura grabbed Shisui's hand and slowly led him into the house, towards the dining room. She heard her mother and Takeshi not so quietly chuckling behind her but she was focused solely on Shisui.

He had looked very tired and stressed when she saw him that afternoon and the first thing she did was throw herself at him. She held him close even as he spun her around in his arms and if she noticed him shed a few tears, she never said a word. Though she had wanted to spend the day with Shisui to help him feel better, she was glad that her mother had invited him for dinner; at least this way she would spend part of the day with the boy. Sakura showed Shisui to his seat and sat down in the chair beside his. Takeshi sat across from Sakura and Shisui while her mother sat at one end of the table, the other end having been Kizashi's seat.

The meal started out quietly until Shisui figuratively stuck a knife in the remaining Harunos' hearts. "Will Kizashi-san be joining us?"

Sakura watched as her mother quietly took deep breaths to control her emotions and Takeshi held his utensil in a white-knuckled grip.

"Papa's dead." Sakura stated quietly as she looked him in the eyes.

Shisui's eyes widened and he paled considerably and she watched as he looked at all three of them. He stood up from the table, food forgotten, picked Sakura up in his arms and walked over to Takeshi, then he did the unexpected and hugged the boy as well.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" Shisui trailed off and looked at Sakura's mother, trying to convey his deepest sympathies to the widow.

Sakura patted Shisui's back and tried to reassure him that it was alright, there was no way he could have known and it was her fault that she should have told him.

"It's quite alright Shisui, it's quite alright. It's part of the reason why I invited you tonight. Kizashi had wanted to have you over for dinner one of these nights to talk about Sakura, but we can discuss this after we've all eaten."

Sakura had always respected her mother but she now admired her mother's strength. Over the past few days, her mother had resigned herself to the confines of her room for the most part and Sakura didn't know what to expect but seeing her this afternoon come outside, Sakura had hope that everything would be fine again.

After they had finished their meal, Sakura prepared herself for the upcoming conversation. She sat between Shisui and Takeshi and listened to her mother explain the situation.

"Sakura-chan, I want you to know that this was a very difficult decision for me to make. I wanted to bring you with me when I go out of town and withdraw your enrollment from the academy to make sure you were safe," at that, Sakura gasped loudly "but, your father convinced me to think about it. He even told me about the time you stood up to the bullies for that blonde haired boy." Sakura's mother looked fondly at her daughter before continuing "I don't want to leave you home alone for weeks at a time but if you still want to go to the academy despite your leg, we can try to figure something out."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, she had assumed that becoming a shinobi was out of the question since there was no way her mother would let her live on her own at six years old. Just the thought of going to the academy made Sakura emotional so she just nodded her head and wiped the tears away.

"This is where you come in Shisui. Sakura-chan trusts you and you seem to be there for her pretty often. I don't know what your life is like aside from going on missions from time to time but we- I was hoping you could maybe help my little girl out when Takeshi and I are out of town. We have no other family in the village and most of our friends dislike shinobi and dislike the idea of Sakura-chan going to the academy."

"Of course! I can help Princess out as much as possible." Shisui exclaimed without hesitation.

"Takeshi and I are leaving in less than two weeks. I have no doubt that Sakura-chan can take care of herself, but it would be good to have someone around in case she needs anything. I can pay you what you would normally get for a in village mission or however that works, just name your price and I can pay it." Sakura's mother stated

"I don't want to be paid for this, I would be looking out for her even if you never asked me Haruno-san. I'm just glad I'll be allowed to be around her." At this, Shisui ruffled Sakura's hair and her face became red like a tomato.

"Thank you Mama." Sakura said quietly, trying her best to hold back her tears of joy but failing miserably. She knew she would eventually go to the academy, but she had just hoped her mother wasn't going to stand in her way. The last thing she wanted was to be on bad terms with her only remaining family.


	10. Chapter 10

The next few days were spent letting her parents' friends know about the Harunos' second funeral in the span of one week. Just like for her aunt and uncle, it hadn't hit Sakura that she would never see her father again; it simply felt like he was away on business out of town, and just like before their previous funeral, the Harunos spent the days reminiscing and celebrating Kizashi's life.

The weather could not have been more different for Kizashi's funeral than it had been for his brother's; the sun was shining, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and there was no wind whatsoever. It almost felt like there was no life on earth when Sakura thought about it.

The biggest difference with Kizashi's funeral was that the Hokage didn't deliver a eulogy for civilians. The eulogy was usually reserved for those close to the deceased which fell onto Mebuki's shoulders.

The walk to the funeral had been odd to say the least. Her mother was acting very strange and reserved and Sakura didn't know why. Her mother was quietly mumbling to herself and taking deep breaths and slowing down randomly then speeding up.

"She's not good at speaking in front of people." Takeshi told Sakura. "She's the brains of the business and Kizashi was the one to make the deals and barter with the buyers and sellers. She knows the price of everything and what's a good product to buy or sell but she can't make a good deal. She usually freezes up or gets a panic attack."

"Does that mean you'll do the talking now?" Sakura asked curiously. She really didn't know much about her family's business but she hoped to help them out if ever it was needed now that… Sakura frowned at the thought of her mother not having her father's support anymore.

"I'll have to try my best." Takeshi chuckled half-heartedly.

As they got closer to their destination, Sakura was happy that they were the first ones there; she wasn't too keen on having hundreds of eyes watching her that day. She walked around with her mother and Takeshi and noticed that the floral arrangement was almost exactly the same as her aunt and uncle's funeral - peonies, sweet peas, bluebells and cherry blossoms - the main difference being the quantity of each flower.

She also realized that all three of them had all died protecting her in some way - though her father probably didn't consciously protect her since he most likely didn't know the weapons were coming towards them until it was too late. Her heart ached at the thought that the people she loved died because of her.

Sakura avoided looking at the picture of her father that was placed at the makeshift altar where she would later put flowers down to pay her respects. She was already feeling emotional and she was tired of crying. She had cried almost every night for the past six weeks and it was exhausting.

They walked around, looking at the display of flowers until others started arriving then they made their way to the front of the clearing. It wasn't long before the ceremony started - it didn't feel as formal as a shinobi funeral since the Hokage wasn't there.

Her mother was speaking softly, trying her best to keep her emotions at bay while delivering the eulogy. Sakura avoided looking at the crowd and instead slowly made her way to look at her father's picture. She barely registered the fact that people started lining up to pay their respects to the deceased as she said her final goodbye to her father.

"... Papa, I know how much you love Mama, but you'll have to wait a long time before you can see her again, okay? We need her more than you do so she has to stay with us." Sakura finished with tears running down her cheeks.

She turned around to see that everyone had gathered close enough to hear her final words - it was a good thing her face was already flushed from all the crying, at least this way her embarrassment wasn't too noticeable. She found Takeshi quickly enough and hobbled over to him a bit too quickly and she fell when she put too much weight on her leg.

Strangely enough she never hit the ground, instead she stared up at very familiar eyes that where brimming with tears. Sakura was not expecting Shisui to show up to her father's funeral - she berated herself for not sensing or seeing him at all - but she was glad he was there. She realized that Shisui gave her so much strength and confidence and she wished she could be the same when he wasn't around.

He helped her stand on her own two feet and held her hand as they walked towards Takeshi and her mother.

"Can we go home soon, Mama?" Sakura asked when her mother was finished speaking to a friend.

"Yes honey we can leave, a friend will stay here for us. Shisui, did you want to come with us, you look like you could use a break from everything."

Shisui's shoulders relaxed noticeably and he squeezed Sakura's hand and nodded.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and trying not to think of life's hardships. Sakura could see both her mother and Shisui retreating in on themselves and zone out from time to time. She sought out Takeshi and planned for a way to distract the other two as best as possible.

Though Sakura was grieving, she so badly wanted to bring joy to everyone which is why she had suggested to Takeshi that they act out silly stories in front of her mother and Shisui.

Her plan was a success. They even managed to get Shisui to join their improvised storytelling and Sakura couldn't stop laughing. Shisui was a riot. His mind was sharp, he was quick to react and he even made her mother cry tears of laughter. Eventually they roped in her mother to join for a few stories and by the end of the night, everyone was in much better spirits.

Sakura was falling asleep on the couch sitting next to Shisui when she felt him tense up minutely. She turned her head to look at him, slightly arching an eyebrow as if asking 'what's wrong' and he struggled to give her a genuine smile.

"I should be going home to sleep." He quietly said, having understood her silent question.

"Mama, can Shisui sleep here tonight?" Sakura asked. She knew that Shisui lived alone since his parents were both dead and she could tell he didn't want to go home.

"That's not a problem. Shisui, you can take your pick between Sakura's room, Takeshi's room and the couch. Those two will be sleeping with me tonight."

It had become a habit for the Harunos to sleep in the same bed during emotional times and Sakura told Shisui just that when he seemed confused by what her mother had said.

Sakura smiled at Shisui, trying her best to convince him to stay and after a few long moments she noticed a smile creep up on his face.

"If it's not a bother, I'll sleep on the couch."

Sakura clearly had a different intention and stood up, pulling on his sleeve to for him to follow her.

"He'll sleep in my room Mama, the couch isn't good enough for Shisui. Come on, I'll give you a tour of my room. You can even sleep with my Wolfie!" Sakura decided for everyone.

"I don't need your Wolfie to sleep, I'm too old for that." Shisui chuckled and tried his best to hide the redness on his face.

"Of course you are." Sakura absently agreed in a dismissive tone.

Once they were inside Sakura's room, she turned to him and tried to give him her best serious face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, slightly startling Shisui.

When Shisui didn't answer, Sakura made him sit down on her bed and sat beside him.

"You're not happy since you came back from your mission. I don't like seeing you sad." She admitted.

"I'll be ok, Princess. Just some clan stuff and ANBU stuff. It'll all blow over soon." Shisui ruffled her hair and she felt relieved. He sounded more tired than anything at this point so she got off the bed and handed him her Wolfie. He sat there petting her wolf for a few minutes before Sakura yawned and bid him good night.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, she carefully got out of bed without waking her mother or Takeshi and quietly walked over to her room. She stood outside and felt Shisui's chakra; it was very calm so she figured he was still asleep.

Avoiding the creaky boards in the hallway, she made her way to the kitchen to start making breakfast. The simplest breakfast she could think of that would be enough for everyone was pancakes so she set about gathering the necessary ingredients for her task.

If anyone asked Takeshi or her mother, they would always say that Sakura's very thoughtful and loved to spoil her family with food. The only problem was that it would be best if she got the food from a bakery or from someone who had at least some form of talent in the kitchen. Most of the surprises she made in the kitchen were not edible and would be safest if thrown out.

Sakura was also aware that she wasn't the greatest cook but her father had always told her that practice makes perfect so in her mind all she had to do was keep practicing and cooking would become second nature to her.

Takeshi joined her downstairs just as she cracked the eggs into the mixing bowl. He waited until she was turned around to remove the small pieces of eggshell that she missed. He managed to take control of the baking by letting Sakura dictate what he had to do. She knew all the necessary steps but she lacked the skills to do it correctly.

Just as the last pancake was finished, her mother joined them. She reveled in the smell of fresh pancakes and the ripe fruits that were all cut up and ready to be eaten.

"Where's Shisui?" She asked the two children.

"Still sleeping I guess. I can go wake him up!" Sakura exclaimed and hobbled towards the stairs with her hand against the wall.

She cracked her bedroom door open and saw that Shisui was still sleeping so she quietly walked towards him. She felt his chakra change and she knew he was awake.

"I made breakfast for everyone!" She yelled quietly and jumped on her bed. She took the time to look at Shisui and noticed that he looked less tired.

"That sounds great Princess."

"Did you sleep good? Isn't my bed the most comfiest bed ever?"

"Well." He corrected her. "Did I sleep _well_? And yeah, I haven't slept this much in years."

Sakura sat there beaming her brightest smile at Shisui. He seemed to be happy and Sakura considered that a success.

When they entered the kitchen a few minutes later, Shisui couldn't help but notice the state it was in. There was flour and batter everywhere - how it was possible to get batter on the ceiling was a beyond him - but the finished product looked delicious.

Sakura hurried to the table and started stacking pancakes on her plate.

"Sakura-chan, one at a time." Her mother chuckled as Sakura reached for a fourth pancake.

With a dejected look, Sakura put back two pancakes and topped the ones on her plate with fruits. She looked around the table and noticed everyone enjoying the food she had prepared - with a bit of help from Takeshi.

* * *

Later that day after Shisui had left - he had said something about 'stupid clan meetings ruining everyone's day' - the three Harunos spent the day shopping and stocking the house up with non-perishable food for Sakura. Their best plan was for her to have backup food that she could simply heat up in case she couldn't cook anything that day.

Seeing as she was able to walk up and down the stairs fairly easily - with the help of the banister of course - they didn't bother relocating her room to the first floor. They also cleared out the room that was initially supposed to be for guests but had become a sort of storage room for Shisui if he stayed the night.

They had discussed it and it was determined that Sakura would be going to the academy the following week to give her a few more days to be with her family before they left for Suna.

The days flew by and next thing she knew, Sakura was walking with her mother and Takeshi towards the Academy. Today was her first day at school - and everyone else's third week - and she was scared that no one would talk to her or like her. She kept remembering all the kids at the playground who would insult her and throw things at her and even push her to the ground and she subconsciously slowed her pace.

"If you walk any slower you'll miss this week too" her mother teased her. Sakura tried her best to smile at her mother but it fell flat and she stopped walking altogether.

"Maybe I should wait a bit longer…" Sakura trailed off; her heart was beating fast and she was getting more worried by the second. Takeshi squeezed her hand and gave her a big hug.

"It's okay to be scared, Kura-chan, doing something for the first time is always scary, but you'll do fine at school."

Takeshi thrived in social situations and never felt awkward or uncomfortable even if he was the only person younger than 20 years old talking to a bunch of merchants about their wares. She was quite the opposite, she knew people could be mean and she didn't like it when it was aimed at her. She knew she was able to stand up to bullies when they picked on someone else, but for some reason she lacked courage when she was the target. It was as if she froze when she didn't have anyone to protect or keep safe. She had never really done anything for herself, it was always for others and that made her happy.

"I'm scared that bullies will pick on me and no one will want to be my friend." Sakura admitted hesitantly.

"If they don't want to get to know you, well it's their loss really." Takeshi smiled and ruffled her hair.

Her mother crouched down beside the two kids and made Sakura face her. Sakura looked at her mother with wide eyes, unsure of what was happening.

"You are an absolutely amazing person Sakura-chan and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Kids can be cruel, but it's not worth it taking their teasing or insults to heart. You know who you are deep down, and you should be proud of that. I know your father, Hiroki and Natsuko were. Takeshi and I will always be there for you." Her mother reached out and placed her hand on Sakura's chest where her heart was beating rapidly.

Sakura tried to hold back her tears and someone managed to do it. She had never heard her mother say such heartfelt words but Sakura thoroughly enjoyed them, it gave her courage to start moving towards the Academy again.

She spent a few minutes with her mother and Takeshi outside the Academy taking a few deep breaths. They made sure to get there early so Sakura could meet the teachers and go inside before the other children entered since she was using her crutches and it would be easier if no kids were running around.

Sakura gave her mother and Takeshi a final hug and went inside to meet her teacher Iruka-sensei.

* * *

Ino loved the Academy. She wasn't thrilled about the learning aspect, but she really liked talking to all the kids. She had grown up and was friends with Shikamaru and Choji but she had always wanted to have more friends and the Academy was the perfect place for that. In her three weeks of attending her first year, she had made dozens of friends but there was one person she had yet to see; Sakura.

Ino had chased bullies away from a girl who had the loveliest hair colour she had ever seen. She didn't think it was physically possible to have pink hair, but there was a girl who looked to be her age at the park one day and Ino knew she had to go say hello. When she was halfway to the pink haired girl, four kids who were slightly older surrounded her future friend and pushed her around. They had started throwing sand in her hair and face when Ino ran to the rescue. Granted Ino merely yelled at them, they all dispersed and she took the time to see if the other girl was alright.

Her new friend was very timid around people but Ino was determined to get her out of her shell. It took days for Sakura to stop being so shy around her when they were alone but as soon as someone else was nearby, Sakura would quieten down considerably.

Ino had found out that Sakura was going to attend the Academy and be in the same year as her and the two friends made plans to see find each other if they weren't in the same class - she was told that there were so many enrollments that the first year class would be separated in two.

So Ino had tried to find Sakura every chance they were let outside but to no avail. She even asked Shikamaru and Choji, who were in the other first year class, if they had noticed a pink haired girl in their class. Unfortunately no one at the Academy had ever seen a girl with pink hair which worried Ino. _Was Sakura okay? Did Sakura abandon her? Did Sakura not like her anymore?_

Ino wanted to go see Sakura and ask her why she wasn't at school when she promised she would be but she had no idea where her friend lived so she was stuck waiting and hoping that she would see her again.

After three weeks of no Sakura, Ino was slightly broken hearted but more angry than anything and she didn't hold back when complaining to Shikamaru and Choji. It was strange when one day when everyone was let outside in the morning, Shikamaru and Choji walked up to her with secretive smiles - oh how she hated it when people kept secrets from her - and told her to go walk to the gate in the fence towards the Academy's entrance.

As soon as she was close enough to notice a little girl with pink hair sitting on a bench she stopped in her tracks. She hadn't noticed that Shikamaru and Choji had followed her until they encouraged her to go see the girl. The only problem was that Ino didn't know what to say to Sakura. Her instincts told her to yell at the girl for abandoning her for three weeks but a part of her was so glad to see her finally.

Ino took a few breaths and hardened her eyes as she walked towards Sakura. By the time she reaches the girl, she was seething with anger.

"Why would you abandon me like that for three weeks? You didn't even bother to come see me when you _know where I live_? Do you not want to be friends anymore?" Ino was so preoccupied with yelling at Sakura that she didn't notice her bandaged leg until she stood up with crutches.

Ino then took a few deep breaths and assessed the situation. First of all, something had happened to her friend's leg. Second of all, her friend had tears in her eyes and her hurt expression immediately let Ino know that she never meant to abandon her. Third of all, Sakura looked so tired and Ino didn't know why. Her first thought was that Sakura seemed to have gone to hell and back so she shut up and just stared until Sakura took a step forward and hugged Ino.

All her anger dissipated and was replaced with guilt when she felt Sakura's trembling arms wrap around her. She should have known Sakura wouldn't abandon her but Ino had always acted before thinking. Her father always tried to get her to count to ten before rushing into a situation but clearly she hadn't learned to do that quite yet.

Ino locked eyes with Choji and Shikamaru and motioned for them to get closer.

"This is Shikamaru and Choji, our parents grew up together and since you weren't in my class, you should be in theirs." Ino stated animatedly.

"She wasn't in our class either this morning, Ino." Chouji said between handfuls of chips.

That did not make sense to Ino. If Sakura wasn't in her class or Chouji and Shikamaru's class, then what class was she in. She refused to believe that Sakura would be in second year since she was a civilian and hadn't done any form of training to become a shinobi.

"I didn't go to class this morning. I sat out here telling myself to go in. I'm still trying to have enough courage to go inside. I even came here early this morning to go see Iruka-sensei, but I ran outside when I saw someone inside." Sakura said quietly as her face flushed from embarrassment.

It was apparent that Sakura and Ino were completely different. While Ino was outgoing and talked with everyone she saw, Sakura was reserved and hesitated when having to talk to someone. Ino had noticed that Sakura always wanted to meet new people but froze up or decided against it if she had to make the first move.

"That's just silly. We'll help you right now before we have to go back to class. Iruka-sensei is Shikamaru and Choji's teacher so you're in their class" at that Ino stood up and gave Sakura her most confident smile "let's go find him!"

Ino took a few steps towards the Academy before looking back to make sure Sakura was following her and was happy to note that Shikamaru and Choji were also following behind. She had seen Shikamaru talking with Iruka-sensei once and remembered him because he had a scar across his nose and she dearly hoped she would never get such an ugly scar on her face or her body - she would rather lose a limb because that could be covered up easier.

They found Iruka-sensei sitting in his classroom preparing a new assignment for his class. Ino pushed Shikamaru and Choji none too gently towards their teacher to initiate contact.

"Ummm, Iruka-sensei, do you have a minute?" Choji stammered out.

"Of course Choji-kun, what is it?" the man looked at his students and smiled happily as he walked towards them.

Ino saw Choji hesitate - he had never been comfortable talking to adults - and knew Shikamaru wasn't going to say anything when she saw him put his hands in his pockets and turn to look out the window.

"This is Sakura-chan, she's your student." Ino informed the chunin.

Iruka-sensei looked at her with slightly widened eyes, not quite used to having a child inform him of what was what. He turned his attention to Sakura who was quietly leaning on her crutches and gave her a warm smile.

"Sakura-chan!" he greeted the girl. "Welcome to the first year in the Academy, I was wondering why you weren't in class but I can see you had a little mishap." he said, pointing at her leg.

"I hope I can still attend even if I missed a few weeks." Sakura said meekly and looking at the ground.

"Of course you can, you may just have to work a bit harder to catch up to everyone. Why don't you three take a seat, the bell is about to ring and Ino-chan, you can go to your classroom." Just as Iruka-sensei finished talking, the bell rang and Ino could hear the students' hurried footsteps running back to class. She bid her friends farewell and skipped towards her classroom, content that Sakura hadn't abandoned her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Quicker update than usual! I'm slowly building the backstories for the characters hopefully you enjoy it!**

 **The pacing for the next few chapters should pick up a bit, there will be more things happening. I'm trying to make everything fit and make sense, the timing for certain events will happen approximately when they should.**

 **I don't want to give any spoilers though I will admit that some people are half correct in the comments regarding things that will happen.**

 **Leave a comment to tell me what you enjoyed so far, what you didn't enjoy, what you hope will happen and what you hope doesn't happen!**

 **I absolutely love your reviews :)**

* * *

The bell rang, indicating that classes were starting and all the children had to go back to their classroom. It was mid morning and he was already tired of being in class; he couldn't care less about how the village started, he wanted to learn how to kick ass and take names. How was he suppose to become a shinobi if he couldn't fight?

Naruto had spent his time outside trying to play with the other kids but no one wanted to play with him. He always thought that once he went to the Academy, he would finally make some friends but the kids were just like everyone else in the village; they all avoided him and ignored him. Whenever someone did look at him, it was with disgust.

He made his way to his seat and saw Iruka-sensei writing something on the chalkboard. He started planning what kind of pranks he could pull on his teacher and almost walked right into the kid with spiky pineapple like hair that always looked half asleep but the fat one who always ate chips pulled his friend out of the way.

No words were exchanged just a quick glance as he sat down at his seat.

"Everyone, we have a new student starting today. She was supposed to start three weeks ago but she hurt her leg and wasn't able to attend class. This is Haruno Sakura." Iruka-sensei finished.

Naruto, as usual, wasn't paying attention to what his teacher was saying and was looking out the window next to him. He did notice a splotch of pink in the reflection that wasn't there before. He looked around class and spotted the girl with pink hair. The girl with pink hair who had helped him from the bullies last year.

He had always hoped to see her again but after a year with no such luck, he had assumed she didn't live in the village. Naruto thought it would have been easy to find her since she was the only person he had ever seen with pink hair. His favorite colour had always been orange but after that day, pink became a very close second.

He stared at her and noticed that she was a shyer than he imagined. He thought she would have been outspoken and confident but she was the exact opposite. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she was looking around the class with wide eyes. She seemed like a lost puppy and Naruto hoped she would remember him but he doubted it.

He was thinking back to that day until Iruka-sensei yelled his name.

"Naruto! I asked you a question." His teacher seethed.

At some point it seems the girl - he berated himself for not listening to Iruka-sensei when he introduced her - had taken a seat near the sleepy boy and fat boy on the opposite side of the classroom. Naruto kept looking at the girl until Iruka-sensei stepped right in front of him, blocking his view. Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously and let out a soft chuckle.

"Umm… is the answer 42?" He guessed, knowing he would be wrong.

"Naruto, we're learning about history, not math."

Naruto heard the various whispers from his peers which only served to bring him down. He's such an idiot. Why is that demon even here? How can he be so stupid?! I'd be so ashamed of myself if I was him.

It wasn't his fault it was so hard to concentrate, it just wasn't interesting when it didn't involve combat. He had heard a few people talking about how they only started sparring in second year but he really hoped they were wrong.

Naruto heard a dejected sigh from Iruka-sensei and watched as his teacher walked back to the front of the classroom and continued talking about the first five years of the village's creation.

He turned his attention to the window and saw that he could clearly see the pink haired girl's reflection so he decided to look at her discreetly for the rest of the class. He was broken out of his reverie as soon as the bell rang, signaling lunch time and the ability to go outside again.

Naruto ran outside and sat at one of the picnic tables in the yard. He knew that most kids sat at the picnic tables to eat and that all the seats were usually taken - this way, people would end up sitting with him. He smiled as he waited for kids to sit at his table but no one joined him. He looked around and saw that no one had sat at any picnic tables near him, but the pink haired girl was slowly making her way towards him on her crutches and his heart sped up. It wasn't until she was halfway to his picnic table that he heard yelling.

"Sakura-chan! Come sit with us."

Naruto watched as a blonde-haired girl ran up to Sakura-chan - it was a name that suited her so well - and guided her towards other kids. For the rest of lunch, Naruto sat at the picnic table and debated going over to talk to Sakura-chan but decided against it when the blonde girl invited half the first-year students to sit with her.

He watched everyone interact and could tell that Sakura-chan was uncomfortable around so many people but the blonde girl kept trying to get more kids to join them. He definitely felt left out and turned away, hoping no one would notice the tears in his eyes. He didn't understand why everyone avoided him, did he smell bad? He never spoke to the blonde girl, so he thought maybe that's why she didn't invite him, but he was sure she had never spoken to the weird girl with white eyes either yet she had been invited.

Naruto kept trying to figure out why no one talked to him until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly and stood up, knocking down the person behind him. His heart stopped when he noticed Sakura-chan on the ground with her crutches laying near her. As soon as he noticed tears streaking down her face he started apologizing profusely and bent down to try to help her up.

"What the hell did you do to Sakura-chan, you idiot?" the blonde girl yelled as she ran to her friend's side. The sheer fury in her voice and movements told Naruto to step back before she reached him and so he did.

The blonde girl, the pineapple haired boy, the fat one and a few others - he really needed to learn other people's names - helped Sakura-chan stand and walk to the Academy. A few kids sneered at him but most of them pretended he wasn't even there.

Naruto started running towards Sakura-chan when he noticed that her red ribbon had fallen out of her hair - he really hoped she wouldn't hate him before he even got a chance to talk to her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled when he got closer.

Everyone turned to look at him and he saw the blonde girl stomp towards him and snatch the ribbon from his hand.

"Don't come close to her, you'll only hurt her again." She seethed.

"Ino, it was an accident, he didn't do it on purpose, I surprised him." Sakura-chan said. Naruto liked how she sounded exactly like what he remembered. He didn't notice Sakura-chan taking a few steps towards him until she spoke up again. "My name is Haruno Sakura…" she mumbled with a shy smile on her face.

"Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage!" He exclaimed loudly, making everyone wince and laugh except Sakura-chan, whose eyes widened slightly at him. He was used to people laughing at him, or insulting him or ignoring him; but having someone pay attention to him and listen to him was a first.

"I'm sure you'll become a great Hokage one day." She smiled at him. An honest to goodness smile aimed at him and she even seemed to believe in him. Naruto didn't know what to do, he was frozen in place looking at her in wonder and amazement. He must be dreaming. All those days and nights thinking about his pink haired saviour must have help him create an elaborate dream.

"Come on Sakura-chan, don't talk to him. We have to bring you to Iruka-sensei since you're hurt." the blonde-haired girl - Ino, Naruto reminded himself - said while ushering the other three to the Academy. But Naruto didn't really hear what she had said, he kept replaying his new friend's words in his head over and over again.

Naruto stood outside with a goofy smile on his face. He walked to the lone swing hanging from the tree and sat on it. He usually sat on the swing while he was sad that no one wanted to be his friend but today was different; he sat on the swing and thought about his first friend. Today was the best day of his life.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by for Naruto - planning pranks and looking at Sakura-chan sure made time go by quickly - and soon it was the end of the day. He didn't like it when school ended because it reminded him that he didn't have anyone that would come get him after school.

Just like every other day, he sat on the swing and watched the parents or siblings pick up the other kids. It always tugged at his heart that no one would ever do that for him but it also served to make him realize he never wanted other children to feel the same way. At least today he would see what Sakura's parents looked like - one of them might have pink hair too.

He watched as Ino's father came to pick her up, an older pineapple haired man came for the younger pineapple haired kid, a fat man came for the fat kid - it was strange how the kids looked a lot like their parents.

He watched all the kids leave until Sakura-chan was the last one there. She kept looking up the road, expecting someone to come get her but after fifteen minutes, she grew visibly worried.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he walked up to her. She looked up at him with wide eyes and looked around quickly, searching for something or someone, he guessed.

"Naruto, your parents haven't come to get you yet either?" she asked innocently.

Naruto realized that she didn't know he didn't have parents. He took a few moments to think and realized that that was the reason why no one liked him, so he did the only thing he could think of to make sure she would stay his friend; he lied to her.

"No, they usually come later. I'm always the last kid here and sometimes I walk home before they get here." Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously.

"It looks like I might have to walk home too." She said worriedly. Why she was worried was beyond Naruto, maybe she was scared of walking alone.

"I can walk you home Sakura-Chan!"

"What if your parents come when you're gone, they would be really worried. I can walk in the village alone, I've done it lots, thanks though." She stood up and grabbed her crutches.

Naruto cursed himself, he should have told her the truth about his parents then he could have walked her home. But if she knew, she probably wouldn't want him near her. All this thinking was starting to give him a headache so he sat down on the bench that Sakura-chan had just stood from and watched her wave goodbye and walk away.

He kept looking at her until an older boy ran up to her and hugged her and it made him realize that he didn't actually know what it felt like to be hugged like that. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to imitate what he was seeing but it just wasn't satisfying. He looked down at the ground near his feet - he didn't want to see them hugging anymore, it only made him feel worse - and tried to distract himself; maybe he should go get ramen since he didn't actually have parents and he didn't have anything to go home to.

Naruto lazily stood up and walked away from the academy, making sure to not look in Sakura-chan's direction and if he took a little detour to get to Ichiraku's to make sure his eyes wouldn't be puffy, it didn't actually matter to anyone.

* * *

Sakura felt immense relief when she saw Takeshi running towards her. Since no one had come to pick her up from school, she assumed that they had been killed - it wouldn't have surprised her, seeing as how life obviously hated her. She had started to hear some rustling in the bushes when she was talking to Naruto and she half expected the tendril monster to appear. She knew it was not possible and that if she did see him it would probably be a hallucination, but just the thought of seeing him again made her slightly paranoid.

She looked back at Naruto to wave goodbye but he was walking away from her, so she headed home with Takeshi. She walked hand in hand with him and told him about the new kids she had met even though she didn't really talk to them yet.

"Ino invited lots of kids to eat with us at lunch and she talked to everyone! She's not shy at all, unlike me." Sakura said dejectedly. She wished she wasn't so shy, but every time someone looked at her, she always tried to cover her forehead in hopes that no one would notice it and make fun of her. It was an automatic reaction she developed since she started getting bullied.

When they arrived at home, her mother had just finished cooking and it smelled heavenly. After her mother had finished asking her how her first day at the academy was, she told Sakura about her own day.

"I received a letter from our best client saying that he would like to buy some of our wares." her mother informed her.

"The puppet-man?" Sakura asked.

Her parents had mentioned a few years ago that a man had approached them and was interested in purchasing very specific and rare plants and flowers from them. The man always paid a generous price for any supplies he bought from them which provided them with enough profit that they figured they would retire a few years earlier than intended. The most notable part of him was that he didn't have any skin, he was made of wood.

"Yes, the puppet-man. He's always in a hurry and never waits for anyone. He wants to meet outside Suna as usual, but the issue is that we'll have to leave tomorrow to meet him on time."

Sakura was torn, on one hand, she wanted to spend more time with her mother and Takeshi, but on the other hand, she knew that now that her father was dead, they would have to work harder to make enough money to live comfortably.

"We don't have to go, Sakura-chan, we can stay here and leave a few days later."

"Mama, you and Take-kun should go, I'll be alright here." Sakura knew if she asked her mother to stay, she would but the young girl also knew that selling supplies was a necessity for them.

* * *

The following morning, Sakura walked to the village gate with her mother and Takeshi. She waved them off, gave them plenty of hugs and kisses and told them she loved them enough times she was sure the gate guards were getting tired of hearing it. She watched them walk away and when she couldn't see them anymore, she headed towards the Academy.

She remembered where Ino lived and decided to walk in that direction to see if her friend would walk with her the rest of the way. She hadn't spent time alone with Ino yet, there were always other kids around and Sakura wanted to explain to Ino what happened. She enjoyed meeting Shikamaru and Choji, they were both quiet and she felt at east with them, but most of the other kids were loud - a lot of the girls made high pitched noises that she wasn't used to.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked up to see Ino and her father walking towards her and a smile spread across her face. Sakura wished she didn't need her crutches so she could run towards her friend, but she knew it wasn't possible yet.

The two walked to school with Ino's father who was more than happy to let the two girls chat. It wasn't until they were within distance of the Academy that Ino finally asked Sakura bout her leg.

"You don't have to tell me, but I would like to know what happened. I was so angry at you because I thought you didn't want to be friends anymore." Ino said seriously.

"I can tell you when no one else is around. I don't want other people to know." Sakura replied quietly as some of her classmates ran to school before the bell rang. That seemed to please Ino and they continued to the academy while Ino looked around at all the kids as if looking for someone in particular.

Sakura's attention turned to Naruto who was sitting on the same swing he sat on the previous day after classes were done. She paused briefly because she wanted to go see Naruto, but Ino didn't seem to like him and even told her to stay away because no one in the entire village liked him. That didn't seem to be a good reason for her to avoid him but Sakura told herself that she would talk to Naruto when Ino wasn't with her.

She sat down with Shikamaru and Choji in class and felt herself relax. Whenever Ino wasn't with her, Sakura felt like all the kids looked at her and judged her but no one spoke to her.

It wasn't until Ino was sick the following day that the bullies made their first move and the memories of going to the park only to get laughed at and hurt came back full force.

The bullies - Ami was their leader - waited until Sakura had wandered around the yard to look for Ino before they cornered her.

"That's a pretty big forehead you have. It reflects the sun because you're not very bright." Ami's right-hand man teased and triggered an onslaught of questions from the other kids.

"What kind of kid dyes their hair at six years old and why did you make it pink?"

"Is it so people would think you're special?"

"I bet your hair isn't even real!"

"You just want more attention, well we'll give you more attention, you can count on that!"

"A big forehead and pink hair, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen."

It wouldn't be so bad if their attacks were only verbal, it was when they started pulling her hair and pushing her around that Sakura started crying. She hadn't even attended classes for a full week when she started regretting her decision; she wished she was in Suna with her family.

When classes were done for the day, Sakura's plan was to stay inside until all the other kids went home but the chakra signature she felt squashed that idea. She walked outside as fast as her crutches allowed her and almost cried tears of joy when she saw Shisui.

It wasn't until he picked her up that she noticed someone else beside him.

"Akio-san!" She exclaimed. Her day had gone from horrible to amazing in a matter of seconds.

"Hey Sakura-chan, how are you liking being in school?" he asked her.

"I love learning, but…" she trailed off.

"But?" Shisui prompted her.

"The kids don't like me. Everyone is nice to me if Ino is with me but she's sick today and everyone was mean to me."

"Then they're idiots, it's plain and simple." Shisui said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The two ANBU walked Sakura home once she told them her family was gone already. Shisui held her hand and helped her walk while Akio carried her crutches. When they arrived at her house, Sakura insisted they sit in her back yard so they could enjoy the sunshine.

"There's something I want to teach you Sakura-chan. You may not be able to do it right away but eventually it'll be very useful to you." Akio informed her.

Sakura turned to Akio and finally noticed the dark bags under his eyes. He looked as if he had aged years since the last time she saw him but she stopped herself from asking him about it. Her mother had taught her that it wasn't nice to point out negative physical changes to someone because it was insensitive.

She also saw Shisui's surprised expression; it seemed Akio hadn't shared his plan with him beforehand at all. Shisui's brow furrowed when green chakra surrounded Akio's hand but Sakura kept staring, mesmerized.

"This is medical ninjutsu, you saw me use this last time we saw each other. I won't teach you how to heal others because that is a skill that takes a lot of time and can be dangerous if not done correctly. However, it's much easier to heal yourself. The difficulty of healing with medical ninjutsu comes from the fact that you have to sync your chakra to the other person's chakra for maximum efficiency. You could just pump medical chakra into someone but you would need to use at least ten times more chakra than if you synched up your chakra to theirs. Plus, this method can only heal scrapes and bruises, you can't perform surgery without pinpoint chakra control."

Sakura soaked in every piece of information Akio was giving her. She hadn't known the risks of using medical chakra because doctors and other shinobi made it look easy. Her admiration for Akio went up a dozen notches seeing as he was able to use medical ninjutsu.

"In theory, what I'll be teaching you will help you with your leg. It won't fix it, but it may just help you walk normally without crutches, and maybe one day run."

Both Sakura and Shisui's eyes widened in disbelief. They didn't understand how it would be possible for Sakura to run with just medical ninjutsu.

"I'll be able to run through the trees like Shisui?" Sakura asked, hopeful.

"That doesn't make sense Akio. Her leg is destroyed, she can't put much weight on it and when she does it hurts like a bitch." Shisui caught his slip too late and told Sakura to not use that word.

"I'm not saying it'll work overnight, I know it'll take a long time before running will be a possibility but with enough hard work, I'm positive it can happen."

"Will you run through the trees with me and Shisui, Akio-san?"

"Sure." Akio tried to sound happy but it fell flat. He knew Shisui had picked up on it by the teen's narrowed gaze but it didn't seem that Sakura noticed anything off.

Akio spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening teaching Sakura the basics of healing. She took down lots of notes and promised him that she would work on it every day.

The concept he tried to teach her was to channel medical chakra through her leg while she walked to lessen the pain, which could be done by either numbing her leg or redistributing the force through a solid stream of chakra that acted as a bone. He didn't fail to warn her that if she numbed her leg, all the pain from the damage caused would flood in once the numbness wore off. Sakura definitely didn't want to feel anything remotely close to the pain she had felt when her leg was shattered and decided to try the chakra bone method first.

* * *

"You know, you shouldn't lie to me." Shisui told Akio as they walked through the village. He wanted to find out what was wrong with Akio so he had promised Sakura that he would be back shortly after he talked to him about shinobi stuff.

"I just didn't want Sakura-chan to know. I'm sick, Shisui, and the doctors don't know why."

"What do you mean you're sick? Sick as in, you'll get better soon?" Shisui asked but feared he already knew the answer. It was very rare for a shinobi to admit they were ill but when it became terminal, they usually spoke up.

"No, as in there's something terribly wrong with me and it's safer if I retire. I'll be doing a lot of tests so the doctors can figure out exactly what's wrong. So far, I'm always cold and I'm starting to lose memories or get confused about my memories."

The two arrived at Akio's house and saw his mother gardening. Shisui had never seen her before, which made him realize he never spent that much time with Akio before. There were the few times where Akio and Genma had forced him to hang out with them but Shisui felt a pang of guilt for rarely having initiated any friendship development between them.

Shisui didn't know what to say or do, he had never known anyone who was ill, usually everyone died on the battlefield.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Shisui asked.

"No, but if I think of something I'll let you know. You're a good kid, Shisui." Akio squeezed Shisui's shoulder. "I was thinking of spending some time with Sakura-chan. I always wanted to pass my knowledge off to the next generation, I just assumed it would have been my child after I settled down in the future."

"I think she'd like that." Shisui said thoughtfully as Akio walked towards his mother.


	12. Chapter 12

**New chapter!**

 **Your reviews make me smile and I just want to spoil everything and tell you what will happen, but that would just be silly! Seems the general consensus is that a lot of you are worried for Shisui, her mother and her cousin. If enough people ask about one character in the reviews, I may give a hint on what to expect for that character (of course my hint will be vague ish)**

 **I'm trying my best to fully flesh out all the characters, and not be too OC, but I know at some points they may become OC due to the changes in the events of the story.**

 **I'm hoping to update within the month but work is still very busy. There may be a small time skip in the coming few chapter just because I think it would drag on if I wrote about Sakura's life until she becomes a genin.**

 **Let me know if you guys prefer it when I stick to only Sakura's POV or when I switch it up, I personally like switching it up because it gives us an insight on other characters' thoughts and views.**

 **Don't forget to review and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Shisui woke with a start to the blood curdling screams coming from down the hall. He was out the door of the bedroom and into Sakura's room in a flash, ready to fight off intruders until he realized she was still having nightmares.

Her blankets were thrown off, her Wolfie was thrown across the room and she was thrashing in bed. Shisui tried to wake her up by calling her name but wasn't surprised when it didn't work - it didn't work before, why would it work now.

He carefully shook her shoulder to wake her while avoiding her flailing limbs but it didn't seem to work so he channeled a bit of chakra into her system - the same way one would break a genjutsu - and she instantly opened her eyes. Her breathing was erratic and Shisui could tell she was in pain.

"You're awake now. You're safe." he comforted her by resting his hand on her head while she tightened the material around her leg. "Princess, I didn't know you still got nightmares."

"I think they're only really bad when I'm alone. When I'm with Mama and Take-kun I sleep well." Sakura deduced.

Thinking back on it, Shisui remembered when he and Itachi had stayed with her and it seemed to make sense. A quick glance at the clock informed Shisui that it was the middle of the night and they both needed sleep.

"Can you sleep here, Shisui?" Sakura asked quietly. It almost seemed as if she was embarrassed to ask him but she should know by now that Shisui would basically do anything for her.

"Of course, Princess."

Shisui went to get Wolfie and put the blankets back onto the bed before lying next to Sakura.

* * *

The next day at school, Sakura hovered around Ino every chance she got. She saw Ami and her band of merry followers looking at her from a distance from the corner of her eye and steadfastly refused to acknowledge them. After having walked into Ino a few times because she wasn't paying attention, Ino finally spoke up.

"Why do you keep running into me? You're not paying attention to anything today, Sakura-chan."

"It's just… Some kids were mean to me yesterday because you weren't there. A couple of them were from the park."

"Who was it? I can go yell at them right now." Ino seethed

"No!" Sakura said abruptly, "it'll just make it worse when you're not there."

"Just stand your ground, don't let them be mean to you."

"How? Do I yell at them? I can't fight them."

"Fighting isn't the answer, you can yell at them and don't let them see that their words bother you, they obviously have bad taste if they don't want to be your friend." Ino smiled as she squeezed Sakura's hand.

With Ino's words in mind, Sakura started planning what she could say when Ami and her goons would bully her again. She tried to recall what Ino had said to the bullies at the park to try to imitate it but couldn't remember actually hearing any of the words that were shouted that day.

The crunching of chips from Choji beside her brought Sakura back to reality and she focused on Iruka-Sensei's lesson. He was teaching Chapter 3 of the academy mathematics textbook for first year students, which Sakura had already read that morning during breakfast.

She still listened to make sure she had understood everything correctly but this also gave her time to do some people watching. She looked around the classroom and decided to try to catalogue things she noticed, starting with Shikamaru.

He was lazy. He always seemed to be sleeping but he didn't seem stupid. Maybe it was just Sakura's optimism but she assumed no child that belonged to a clan would be stupid; their parents wouldn't allow it. She also noticed that he rarely ever spoke to anyone and he seemed to really be at ease only when he was around Choji. He looked so confident and as if he didn't care what anyone thought of him. All in all, she liked Shikamaru, especially his pineapple like hair.

Next in line was Choji. He seemed like a somewhat male version of herself; he was shy, didn't like being around too many people and was bullied because of his physical appearance - though for him it was his weight rather than his forehead. He was also a genuinely nice person that cared about animals. She had seen him free a butterfly from a spider web even though it took him an extra 10 minutes just to make sure the butterfly could fly once he saved it. Choji was another kid that she liked.

Sitting at the next table was a boy with long brown hair. Sakura had never spoken to him and he didn't look like anything special. He looked like he was bored out of his mind and didn't want to be there but she had to admit that his ability to balance 3 pencils on three different fingers was pretty impressive - at least if he stayed in the academy he should do pretty well with shurikenjutsu with all his dexterity.

Beside him was a girl with short hair that had a tinge of blue. Her white eyes were her most memorable feature and Sakura tried to imagine she it would look like if her own eyes were white instead of green. She had skimmed ahead in her history book to learn about a few of the major clans and the Hyuga were mentioned along with the Senju and Uchiha - Sakura made a note to learn more about these three clans, maybe there was a child from each clan in her class. Aside from her eyes, there was nothing notable about the girl, she was someone that could easily be forgotten.

After looking at three more kids that didn't look special in any way, Sakura's gaze landed on a boy wearing a fur coat. The days were getting warmer so the boy shouldn't be wearing that coat, it looked way too warm for it to be comfortable. She looked closer and saw something move inside the coat which got her looking more intently at the boy. It wasn't until she saw a small dog peak his head out of the coat that she deflated. She caught herself in the middle of cooing and decided to just look at the adorable puppy. That only served to confuse her even more; how was this boy wearing a fur coat with a dog hiding inside and not overheating? The boy also had markings on his face which gave Sakura the impression that he was from a clan. She made a mental note to try to go talk to the boy when she had a chance and enough courage to do so - she absolutely loved dogs and any excuse to pet one was a valid excuse.

Her attention shifted to Naruto when he started arguing with Iruka-sensei about learning how to fight. It seemed as if Naruto didn't want to do anything but learn to fight and Sakura knew they would only be doing that the following year which she was grateful for. She didn't want to start learning to fight when she had to use crutches so she made herself a goal; learn to form the chakra bone in time for sparring next year.

Sakura didn't mind Naruto, he seemed like a boy who just wanted to make friends. He was similar to her yet so different. He was usually loud where she was quiet, he was bullied and so was she. He would talk back to adults where she wouldn't dream of being disrespectful.

Sakura felt a pang of empathy for Iruka-sensei for having to deal with children every day, but she assumed he didn't mind if he chose to teach. She took a good look at him and started thinking of scenarios on how Iruka-sensei could have gotten that scar across his nose; maybe he was in a life or death fight, or maybe a big cat had attacked him or maybe he accidentally fell near a kunai, the possibilities were endless and Sakura knew she wasn't going to ask the man.

Only because she was looking so intently at her teacher did she notice how much he disliked Naruto. His demeanor was always on the offensive around Naruto and he always gave quick, blunt responses. When he was teaching, he had a calm, relaxing attitude, one that showed his passion for teaching.

Sakura didn't know what Naruto could have done to Iruka-sensei during the first few weeks of school to elicit such dislike - it could almost be described as hatred - from their teacher.

She looked around and debated asking Choji or Shikamaru but she didn't feel comfortable enough around them to bother them.

Having looked around class thoroughly enough, Sakura realized how bored she was - maybe she shouldn't read the book before learning it in class. Then an idea hit her; she could practice making the chakra bone in her leg!

She slowly started molding chakra like Akio-san had explained but as soon as she tried to form a bone in her leg, pain shot up and made her spine tingle. The yelp of pain made everyone turn to stare at her.

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?" her teacher asked.

She tried to speak but with everyone staring at her she flushed a shade of red that clashed with her pink hair and she froze up. Sakura nodded to her teacher, embarrassed. She heard a few chuckles throughout the room but kept her gaze on the table in front of her until her heartbeat stopped pounding in her chest.

It wasn't until school was done that she got a chance to talk to Ino alone. Ino knew her father was going to be late and Sakura knew Shisui was busy so she would be walking home alone.

"Are you going to tell me how you broke your leg? And how much longer do you need the crutches? You don't have a cast so I'm guessing you'll be healed and good as new soon! My cousin broke his leg once and once the cast came off he got better pretty quickly. It must be weird having to walk with crutches, I wonder if I should practice walking with them in case I ever break my leg. I really hope I don't but you-"

"Ino," Sakura interrupted. Ino was usually talkative but this was on a whole new level. "Don't tell anyone but my leg isn't broken like it is for most people. The doctors said I may never be able to use it again because the two bones in my leg were shattered in a million pieces by a missing ninja. He had the scratch on his headband and..." Sakura paused for a second to build up her courage to talk about that fateful night again "and his partner killed my aunt and uncle." She finished quietly.

"What do you mean you won't be able to use your leg? How are you going to become a shinobi with me? How was it broken in so many pieces?" Ino kept asking questions with only served to slightly fluster Sakura.

"I just have bone pieces in my leg, every time I move it hurts and if I try to put weight on it, it hurts so much. The missing nin slammed his metal weapon on my leg really hard." Sakura finished and hoped Ino would stop asking so many questions for a while.

Ino managed to stay quiet for a few minutes before she glanced at Sakura and watched her walk. Sakura was feeling very self-conscious and tried her best to walk as normal as possible; she didn't want Ino to criticize her and wished her friend would stop staring at her.

She got her wish when she heard Ino call out for her father as she ran up ahead. Sakura took a few seconds to breathe and followed Ino.

"Daddy! Can Sakura-chan come over tonight?" Ino asked excitedly.

"We have a clan dinner tonight but I'm sure they wouldn't mind in the least if Sakura-chan came with us. She'll just have to ask her parents for permission."

"Mama is out of town on business so I can't ask for permission." Sakura informed Ino's father and she didn't miss the slight widening of his eyes - why a girl so young was home alone was beyond him.

"Well in that case I must insist that you come with us so you can have a proper meal. I know Choza has been planning the meal for at least two weeks and it will be a feast."

"Can you come over right now Sakura-chan?" Ino asked.

Sakura had never gone over to a friend's house before and she was nervous but she was so happy that Ino wanted her around. She stopped walking to look at Ino and actually managed to control her tears - at least they were tears of happiness this time. She gave Ino her best smile and nodded her head.

* * *

The clan dinner was far less awkward than Sakura imagined. She felt like an outsider before meeting everyone but by the end of the meal, she felt at home.

"I can't believe you ate so much! You almost gave Choji a run for his money." Ino exclaimed.

Sakura was laying down on the grass beside Shikamaru and Ino while Choji laid down beside Shikamaru. Ever since Sakura's leg was shattered she started eating more because of the extra calories she would burn by walking around with crutches all day - Sakura felt as though she would have strong arms in no time.

"Seeing all the adults' faces when you asked for seconds and then thirds was the best thing ever." Shikamaru said lazily.

"I didn't ask for seconds or thirds, Ino's father gave me more food when my stomach growled." Sakura informed them which elicited a snort from Shikamaru and a chuckle from both Choji and Ino.

"I think my parents really like you since you liked their food." Choji said quietly.

"Your mother makes the best carrot cake, I wish I could have some every day." Sakura stated.

The kids spent a while laying down on the grass until Ino stood up from boredom.

"We should play a game! I haven't played tag in ages." Ino informed her friends.

"Umm Ino, I can't run." Sakura said dejectedly.

Ino's cheeks were red instantly from embarrassment and she hugged Sakura as apology.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think of that, we can play something else."

"No it's alright, I can sit and watch you guys play."

"I think I'll pass too, there are so many clouds in the sky." Shikamaru drawled out - clearly he enjoyed watching the clouds go by.

"You guys are no fun." Ino pouted "Can I play with your hair then Sakura-chan?"

Sakura loved it when her mother played with her hair, there was something so incredibly relaxing about it. She sat up and turned her back to Ino as a response and almost immediately felt the gentle pull through her hair. Sakura tried her best to stay awake but she always managed to doze off when someone played with her hair.

Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder and jerked awake. She looked around and saw Shikamaru and Choji sitting and looking at her so she turned around to see Ino's smiling face.

"I hope you like your hair, I'm really good at doing braids."

Sakura ran a hand over her hair and felt the braid. She admired the workmanship and appreciated the effort that went towards her hairdo.

"Thank you, Ino… chan" she added. It was the first time Sakura used an honorific for someone who wasn't her family and she was hoping it was alright. The widening of Ino's smile and the tight hug was proof enough that it was more than alright.

The two girls spent the rest of their time talking about flowers. It turns out Ino knew almost as much as Sakura's parents when it came to the meaning of flowers. Her mother had already tried to teach her the different meanings but she had always been more interested in knowing how each flower acted in a poison.

Ino loved flowers and making different arrangements to tell others how she felt, it was something both her parents taught her since they owned a flower shop. Ino kept mentioning how she would be helping out her parents with the flower shop when she grew up. Sakura listened to Ino talk about all the things she would be doing in a few years' time and it made her wonder why Ino even wanted to be a shinobi if she had all these other aspirations.

"Why do you guys want to become shinobi?" Sakura asked the three other children.

"What do you mean?" Ino in turn asked Sakura.

"Why did you guys decide to become shinobi? I want to become a shinobi so I can protect everyone I love and care about."

"It's something everyone in my family does, I never really thought why else I would want to become a shinobi but your reason seems like something I want to do too." Ino stated quietly.

"Same for me, it feels like it's necessary for our families to become shinobi, it was never really a choice I guess." Shikamaru added.

"My family is the same way, but my father also told me there's lots of really good food throughout the nations and I want to try them all." Choji noted as his stomach growled.

"Are you seriously hungry? We just finished eating not long ago!" Ino exasperated.

Sakura watched as Choji lowered his head in embarrassment and started thinking of things she could do to make him more comfortable.

"Choji, did you want to get more dessert with me?" She asked. Although she wasn't hungry, Sakura really enjoyed the carrot cake that Choji's mother had made.

"You too?" Ino asked Sakura.

"It was so delicious. I don't normally have good food when my family's gone." Sakura said while walking over to Choji. She extended her hand as an invitation for Choji and they walked towards the house to get more food.

"I really like food too, and your parents are amazing cooks. I wish I could have more of their cooking."

"Umm, y-you said sometimes your family's gone? Do they get missions pretty often?" Choji asked innocently.

"I only had one aunt and uncle who were shinobi in my family but they're dead. Everyone in my family is a merchant so travelling all the time is part of the job." Sakura explained.

"You didn't want to be a merchant?"

"No, I never wanted to. I wanted to be like my aunt and uncle even if my parents didn't want me to."

The rest of their short walk was done in a comfortable silence and Sakura could see Choji's smile widen slightly. When they walked into the house she noticed that someone was already getting food before them.

"Is there any carrot cake left?" Choji asked his father.

"Only one slice left, I was going to have it after I'm done."

"Can Sakura have it? She really liked Mom's cake."

"No, no it's alright, you can have the last piece Akimichi-san." Sakura spluttered, his family did do the cooking so it only made sense that he would have first dibs for the food.

"Nonsense! You're a growing girl, you should eat to your heart's content." Choji's father informed her and gave her a plate with the last remaining slice of carrot cake.

Sakura followed Choji around while he stacked food onto his own plate. She had a hard time believing he would finish it all but she guessed he knew better than her.

"Did you want to go eat with Shikamaru and Ino?" Sakura asked when Choji couldn't fit any more food on his plate.

Choji stopped and looked at the ground at his feet - Sakura noticed that he always did that when he was embarrassed.

"I'd rather not, Ino can be mean to me sometimes when I eat lots."

Sakura couldn't believe Ino would be mean to anyone but decided to not push Choji so she hobbled towards the table to sit down after giving Choji her plate. She wasn't quite capable of juggling a plate while walking on her crutches quite yet and she was glad when Choji simply accepted her plate and followed her.

The two sat down side by side and ate the food on their plates, neither uttering a word. When Sakura finished her carrot cake, she glanced at the other desserts taunting her and couldn't resist. She stood up and very slowly walked to the dessert section with her plate in one hand while only using one crutch to hop around. It was difficult, but so worth it for the desserts stacked on her plate.

"You're just as bad as he is!" Ino exclaimed when she saw her two friends eating their full plates.

Sakura heard the tinge of annoyance in Ino's voice and stopped eating immediately. She didn't want her first friend to be annoyed with her or dislike her so she pushed her plate away to not be as tempted by it.

"If you eat lots of dessert, you'll get fat and no boy will ever like you, you know." Ino continued.

Sakura wanted boys to like her so they would want to be her friend. It was a bit strange to her that boys wouldn't want to be friends if she ate lots of dessert but she decided that Ino must know better since she's the one with all the friends.

"Ino, just because you don't want to eat delicious food doesn't mean you should stop Sakura from eating it." Choji rebutted quietly.

"If she gets fat and hangs around me, people won't want to be my friend anymore. So if she gets fat I won't be able to be her friend anymore, I'm just looking out for what's best for her." Ino raised her voice and her brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Ino… chan. I'll just finish this and I'll be more careful from now on." Sakura said meekly.

"Deal!" Ino relaxed at this and Sakura quickly finished her dessert.

"Ino, appearances aren't everything. The sooner you realize this, the better." Shikamaru piped in and laid his hand on Choji's shoulder to reassure his friend.

As soon as Sakura finished her desserts Ino gave her the crutches and walked away from the two boys. Sakura followed her friend and sat down next to her on the grass in the yard.

"There's a lot you don't know, Sakura-chan, but I'll teach you everything don't worry!" Ino's smile warmed Sakura's heart so she listened attentively while Ino told her how to act around boys.

Sakura didn't know she was supposed to always praise boys and tell them how good they are at everything even if they weren't. She was also supposed to be on their side no matter what, and offer them gifts whenever possible. Ino told her the easiest gift to give was food, so if a boy was ever sad or not happy at school, the best thing to do would be to give him your lunch.

Sakura found it strange how she was supposed to do everything for a boy just to be friends but she didn't doubt Ino. Ino had lots of friends at school and some of them were even boys.

Ino had been talking for almost an hour when she was interrupted by her father.

"Ino, it's time to leave."

"Daddy we have to walk Sakura-chan home first!"

"Of course we'll walk her home first. Are you girls ready?" He asked nicely.

"Yup!" Ino yelled and ran towards her father.

Sakura got up and hopped over to the pair while Ino's mother said her goodbyes. She then spotted Shikamaru and Choji and waved goodbye to them before walking off with Ino's family.

* * *

Once home, Sakura did her nightly meditation, practiced her chakra exercises to hide her chakra and sense chakra then decided on some light reading before bed. The light reading that night consisted of the medical book Shisui had gotten her which only served to excite her even more about the next time she would see Akio and hopefully try forming the chakra bone with him. She didn't want to try it alone seeing as it hurt a lot the one and only time she tried in class.

Sakura settled in her bed with Wolfie and read until she woke up in the middle of the night sweating profusely and with a raw throat. It was the same story every night, she had nightmares of her family dying, each time just as gruesome or more than her aunt and uncle's death. And each time, she would wake up with her blankets thrown off the bed and Wolfie thrown somewhere in her room far enough that she didn't have the courage to search for it in the middle of the night.

She always cried in her bed and tried to go back to sleep but sleep usually escaped her for a few hours. The only times she remembered being able to fall back asleep was when Shisui was with her - maybe he was her knight in shining armor after all.


	13. Chapter 13

**A fairly quick update, this chapter just wrote itself basically. Just a small note for this Chapter, Kurenai may seem out of character a bit but there is a reason for this. I'm trying to give characters development and justifying things that happen in canon. Basically you may not know why this is being done, but there is an ultimate reason and it will fall into place eventually.**

 **Let me know things you liked/didn't like, as usual I love hearing from you guys!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Sakura watched as Shikamaru, Choji and Ino walked away from school with their fathers. Next she watched the white eyed girl walk away with who Sakura assumed was a brother or cousin as the boy seemed only a few years older at most yet he looked so confident and sure of himself, the complete opposite of the girl in her class. The girl looked positively uncomfortable in the presence of the boy and she always stayed a few steps behind him, almost shuffling along.

A bark alerted Sakura to the boy with the dog from her class - Kiba if she remembered Iruka-sensei correctly - running towards his mother. Sakura only wished she could run again. She never dreamed of not being able to play with friends and run around but that was her reality. Until she could learn to create the chakra bone of course.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a familiar head of black hair. She wanted so badly to yell out to him but her desire to not be the centre of attention won out against embarrassing Itachi, so she settled to look at him as his brother ran up to him. His brother looked to be her age but she didn't catch a glimpse of his face, only the back of his head so she didn't know if he was in her class or not - she made a mental note to try to spot him in the school yard one of these days. Itachi happened to look in her direction gave her a small smile which was equivalent to a normal person giving a beaming smile.

That small smile meant a lot to Sakura because of the stories Shisui told her about Itachi. The boy barely showed anyone his emotions because his father wanted him to be the perfect shinobi. It almost felt like Itachi was a robot when Shisui wasn't around but thankfully Sakura got to see the real Itachi from time to time. She watched the two boys walk away then felt two other familiar chakra signatures nearby.

She stood up and started walking towards Shisui and Akio's location however in doing so, she failed to notice that Naruto had started walking towards her. She also failed to see Naruto's smile disappear when she walked away.

Sakura vowed to learn to do the chakra bone as soon as possible; as the closer she got to the two, the greater her urge to run became. She rounded the corner and saw them talking to a woman with long wavy black hair - she had seen that woman before but couldn't quite remember from where.

The woman looked very tired and moved around slowly as if every bone in her body was ached. She slowly walked away from them after having given them a half assed wave goodbye and Sakura instantly saw Shisui disappear. She turned around with a smile knowing that's where Shisui would show up.

"How's my Princess today?"

"Did you know that the Uchiha and Hyuga have the most powerful eyes? People are always debating which one is the strongest but I think it all depends on the person. Did you also know that Konoha was originally founded by an Uchiha and a Senju? I also learned that there are different hand signs for different jutsu, and that it's possible to make hand signs with one hand and eventually you can cast a jutsu with no hands!" Sakura blurted out.

"Whoa there! Iruka sure is teaching you guys a lot." Shisui couldn't help but chuckle.

"Iruka-sensei is teaching too slowly, I read the textbooks when I'm bored."

"You're pretty smart, Sakura-chan." Akio piped in, "do you think you're up to trying the chakra bone today?"

Sakura was hoping he would offer to help her; as she still wasn't up to the task of asking things from others. The three then walked to Sakura's house and sat down in her yard.

"I'll push chakra through your leg while you practice, it'll help me see your progress and I can numb the pain a little bit." Akio informed her.

She waited until Akio pushed some green chakra into her leg then started forming the bone. It was a very painful process but not so painful that she had to stop so she pushed through the pain. Sakura didn't quite know how to form the bone but she thought that just a solid link between her knee and ankle should do the trick.

She kept trying to form the chakra bone for a good 10 minutes while incorporating Akio's slight adjustments until Akio started coughing violently and stopped pushing medical chakra into her leg. The pain skyrocketed and she let out a surprised yell then stopped forming the bone.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, that's all I can do for today." Akio informed her, sounding slightly disappointed.

Sakura did what she usually did when someone in her family was feeling down and hugged Akio. He returned the hug after a few seconds and held on tightly, almost afraid to let go.

"You two look adorable." Shisui cooed.

Surprisingly, neither Akio nor Sakura let go. Sakura looked at Shisui and motioned for him to join them. He hesitated but eventually caved and the three stayed in a group hug formation until Akio was cursed with another coughing fit.

"Is there anything I can do to help you, Akio-san?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"No, it'll go away eventually."

"Was I doing the bone correctly?" Sakura asked Akio.

Akio chuckled which turned into a cough then reassured her that she was doing great. "The best thing is to start small and eventually make the bone bigger when you have more chakra."

"How big should the bone be?"

"In all honesty, Sakura-chan, you'll have to figure that out for yourself. It's all trial and error to see what works for you. The thinner the chakra bone, the weaker it'll be so you won't be able to put as much force down. The impact from walking and running is different so you'll need a stronger bone for running." Akio informed Sakura.

"Can I practice making the bone on my own?" Sakura asked. She was hoping to practice every day now that she knew it would be possible to run through the trees with Shisui.

"There won't be anyone to reduce the pain if you practice on your own but aside from that, there shouldn't be any issues. You actually did very well. Soon enough you'll be able to walk a bit on your leg" Akio told her while placing his hand on her head.

"I can already walk on my leg a little bit." Sakura told Akio while smiling and enjoying the head pat.

"I mean you'll be able to walk on your leg without your crutches." Akio corrected himself

"Yeah, I already walked on my leg without crutches."

"That's not possible, Sakura-chan. With the damage to your leg if you put weight on it, it would hurt too much without anything to numb the pain."

Sakura was trying her best to remain calm on the outside because inside she was seething. Why did people never believe her?! First Shisui and Itachi didn't believe she could sense chakra much better while meditating, and now Akio didn't think she could walk on her leg. Shisui was there and saw her, maybe if she told Akio, he would believe her as long as Shisui backed up her claim.

The only sign of her frustration was the slight twitch of her eye which seemed like Shisui caught on because he came to her rescue.

"Akio, she slowly and carefully walked on her leg the other day, she walked several hundred metres in fact." Shisui stated proudly.

Sakura let out a shaky breath and looked at Akio, mentally daring him to refute what Shisui had said but thankfully Akio didn't say anything for a while.

"Can you show me, Sakura-chan?" Akio asked quietly yet so seriously.

* * *

Shisu watched as Sakura slowly stood up without her crutches and he resisted the urge to help her. He saw her looking around and he decided that he wanted to be her goal so he body flickered in front of the large cherry blossom tree and gave her a nod when they locked eyes. Akio joined him and together they watched Sakura take the first few steps towards them.

"That's not possible…" Akio whispered.

"How can you still believe it's not possible when she's clearly walking?" Shisui asked, slightly annoyed.

"Shisui, can you turn on your sharingan and look at her leg?"

Shisui hesitated for a second but relented and did as he was asked. If that would help Akio believe Sakura then it was worth it; as Shisui remembered the terror in the girl's eyes when he and Itachi didn't believe she could sense chakra much better while meditating.

His breath hitched when he looked at her leg; she was concentrating chakra into her leg while walking. After his spar against Itachi they both had turned off their sharingan when Sakura hobbled towards them so he hadn't noticed the chakra in her leg.

"What is it?" Akio asked after having waited thirty seconds.

"I can see chakra concentrated around her leg." Shisui responded.

"How does she know to do that?"

"Akio, I don't have the slightest idea, but she's constantly circulating the chakra through her leg as she's walking. I see that her chakra is enveloping her leg and it looks as if it's medical chakra since there's a slight green hue to it" Shisui exasperated.

Akio's head snapped in Shisui's direction and started coughing as punishment for the quick movement. When the coughing subsided, Akio took a step towards Sakura but Shisui immediately grabbed onto his arm.

"Don't distract her, just let her do this." Shisui warned.

"I just need to confirm that she's actually using medical chakra so-"

"No." Shisui said firmly.

Akio turned towards Shisui and took a step back towards the tree to wait. Shisui returned his attention to Sakura and concentrated on her leg. He was so proud of her being able to use medical chakra; as it was not easy to do but she somehow pulled it off.

The more he looked at her leg the more he noticed that the chakra would change from a slight green hue to a slight brown hue, indicating that she cycled between earth natured chakra and medical chakra. Shisui assumed that the brown chakra reinforced her skin and muscles like stone while the green chakra reduced the pain and inflammation caused by the impact of walking.

"You're never going to believe this Akio but she's using medical and earth nature chakra to walk." Shisui chuckled.

"I want to say that it's not possible but it seems this little girl is finding ways around things that are impossible."

When Sakura reached them, Shisui ruffled her hair and praised her which only served to make her blush uncontrollably. Akio quickly placed his hand on Sakura's leg and pushed his chakra through to take note of the state of her leg.

"You didn't jostle anything or cause any damage to your leg." Akio said, surprised.

"I was very careful and concentrated on walking slowly so I wouldn't get hurt." Sakura told them with slight irritation.

"Princess, did you use your chakra to help you walk?"

"I don't think so… I didn't notice I was too busy making sure I walked slowly." Sakura chuckled nervously.

Shisui crouched down to make sure he was on the same level as Sakura and placed his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes widened slightly at the seriousness of Shisui's gesture.

"Well, let me tell you then; you were using chakra or more specifically, you were using medical and earth nature chakra." Shisui explained slowly, documenting her reaction to his statement.

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing in confusion. Shisui loved the amount of expressions Sakura cycled through and hoped she would always stay as open and comfortable with her emotions when she became a shinobi since too many people retreated into themselves and lost all emotion.

"But I don't even know how to use medical chakra or earth natured chakra. How can you know that's what I was doing?" She asked, confused.

As a response, Shisui activated his sharingan and told Akio to use chakra. Shisui then described to Sakura how he saw the green aura travel through Akio's body and reach his hand.

"That's amazing." Sakura calmly stated before she launched herself at Shisui and hugged him with all her might.

"Princess, are you hiding your chakra by chance?" Shisui asked suddenly.

Sakura faced Shisui and hesitated. It worried Shisui so he reassured her that there was no wrong answer.

"Yes, I usually hide my chakra as much as possible, I count it as practice."

"That's perfect! I'll be able to teach you my body flicker technique very soon!" Shisui exclaimed.

* * *

Akio left barely an hour later and he looked exhausted. Shisui offered to help walk him home but Akio brushed it off. Shisui was concerned for his friend since he knew the doctors didn't know what was wrong and it looked like Akio's health was going downhill pretty quickly.

Shisui had a two week long mission that started the following day so he spent all his remaining time with Sakura and parted ways when she left for school the next morning.

He met up with Itachi, Genma and Kurenai at the front gates but noticed that his cousin was in a sour mood. The only way Shisui knew this was because Itachi was standing a foot further away from everyone than usual and his body was turned slightly more towards Shisui, almost begging to speak to him.

"Genma, since we're waiting for taicho, as usual, I need to speak to Itachi for a few minutes about clan business" Shisui stated

"You should have plenty of time, Kakashi probably won't be here for a few hours. Even Kurenai beat him here." Genma replied.

"Why is she here?" Shisui asked Genma, not really addressing Kurenai seeing as he had never spoken to her before, he only knew who she was since she had red eyes and was not an Uchiha.

"She's the fifth member for our mission" Genma stated.

"A five man team? That's a first. This'll be a very easy mission at least." Shisui exclaimed and Genma sat down on the wooden bench.

"Still technically a four man team since we're getting a female." Itachi smart-assed.

"It's more of a test to see if I'm ready to become a jonin." Kurenai noted; she was tired of being left out.

"You're running out of time to talk to Itachi, you know. We're leaving as soon as Kakashi gets here." Genma reminded Shisui.

With that, Shisui body flickered somewhere quiet and waited for Itachi to follow. When Itachi arrived, Shisui didn't hesitate to get down to business.

"What's wrong? Is it the end of the world?"

Itachi just stared at Shisui and ground his teeth - he was not in the mood for jokes.

"My parents are starting to ask more questions about the village and if I heard anything regarding the council. I need to give them information so they lay off me for a bit just so I can relax for a few hours at home."

"You know you can always visit Sakura to relax." Shisui mentioned.

"I don't feel comfortable just stopping by to see her without a reason."

"Your reason is to relax, you just said that you would love a few hours to relax from time to time. Plus she definitely wouldn't mind, her mother and cousin are still out of town."

"I may stop by to see her one day, she did seem happy to see me when I went to get Sasuke at the academy the other day."

"Of course she's happy to see you, she cares about you."

Itachi's cheeks had a light dusting of pink when Kakashi showed up right next to the two Uchiha. Shisui tried his hardest to not laugh at Itachi's embarrassment but in the end, laughter rang out so Genma and Kurenai could hear.

"Are you two finally ready? It's time to go." Kakashi stated and left.

Shisui and Itachi followed their captain and Shisui nodded at Kurenai when he noticed her looking at them. Shisui had never really spoken to her before, she was in Kakashi's age group but still a chunin and judging by what Akio had mentioned, she was training with various people to improve her skills.

He liked the fact that he was going to gauge her skills from a blank slate, he had no misconceptions or prejudices against her so he hoped she would be well rounded and fit for jonin rank.

The mission they were on was just a B rank but Shisui assumed Kurenai would be the one taking charge. However, as Shisui soon found out, she wasn't stepping up to the plate to lead the team. She mostly stayed silent and waited for Kakashi to formulate a plan.

Then came the fighting. They had left her to fight a single B rank shinobi while they each took on an A rank or several B ranks at the same time. Shisui kept an eye on her and evaluated her fighting style - or lack thereof. She eventually managed to trap the shinobi in a genjutsu but her concentration wavered when several kunai were thrown in her direction. Shisui mentally face palmed when he saw that and made a note to tell her to fix that problem as soon as possible before it gets her killed.

The shinobi who threw the kunai engaged her in taijutsu and it only served to confirm the fact that she was definitely not ready to become a jonin. Her style was more to throw herself out of the way of any attacks and she exerted too much energy trying to look good while doing it, but thankfully Itachi swooped in and saved the day - more precisely he saved Shisui from seeing the poor display of fighting skills.

At the end of the day when they had taken care of the group of shinobi, they settled around the campfire to talk. Unfortunately, Kurenai finally decided to speak up.

"How did you guys think I did? Almost ready to become jonin?" She asked, seemingly proud of herself but for what, Shisui had no idea.

Silence permeated through the clearing and Shisui looked around at his real teammates. Kakashi was looking so intently at his book and gripping it so tightly that Shisui thought the book would break, which was unlike Kakashi because the man always spoke his mind and wasn't afraid to tell you if you messed up. Genma was staring intently at the fire and it seemed like he wasn't paying attention and lost in his thoughts - Shisui knew that was Genma's tactic when he didn't want to deal with a hard situation, the man was an expert at zoning out.

Then there was Itachi. Shisui knew exactly how Itachi would handle the situation and no one was ready for the possibility of Kurenai crying - Itachi was cold when assessing others' abilities and Shisui made a note to talk to his cousin about softening the blow.

"I'll be honest with you," Shisui started and waited until Kurenai faced him "you still need to improve before becoming a jonin."

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked. Shisui didn't know how she could be oblivious to her shortcomings.

"First of all, you weren't able to take care of a B rank missing nin, when you eventually trapped him into a genjutsu, it broke because someone threw a kunai at you and your taijutsu is… sad." Shisui explained as nicely as he could.

"He means to say your taijutsu is pathetic and non-existent." Itachi corrected. It seems that Itachi wasn't very happy that he had to save Kurenai from a couple of B ranks enemies

"Listen here, both you Uchiha. First of all, I was going to take care of the first one until the other joined in. If you didn't lose track of your enemy and let him escape, I wouldn't have had to deal with him. Second, you try to hold someone in a B rank genjutsu when being surprised, it wrecks your concentration. And third of all, my taijutsu _isn't_ pathetic. I didn't get hit once during my fight." By the end of her defense, both Kakashi and Genma were looking at her incredulously. Kakashi even managed to drop his book on the ground at some point and had yet to pick it up - Shisui wondered if he should body flicker and steal the book but decided against it; as they were having a serious conversation.

Shisui looked at Itachi and shook his head so Itachi would stay quiet. He noticed the ever small narrowing of his cousin's eyes and found it necessary to do damage control but Genma beat him to it.

"Kurenai, you know I mean this in the nicest way possible, but those excuses or reasoning or whatever you want to call them, are not valid." Genma spoke softly and soothingly, seemingly aware of how to handle Kurenai. "Everything Shisui said was meant as constructive criticism."

"Well he just doesn't understand what it's like." Kurenai pouted.

This was the moment when Itachi couldn't hold back anymore. It became a verbal brawl where Shisui and Genma tried to talk over Itachi but the kid had a way of being heard even in a crowded room if he so chose. Then Kurenai started talking back and trying to defend her skills and Itachi became _savage_.

"Enough!" Kakashi's commanding voice put a stop to all the bickering and garnered everyone's attention. "Kurenai, you're not ready to become a jonin, doubly so if you have to argue to defend your skills and are unaware of your shortcomings. Shisui and Genma are right in everything they said and it is not up for debate. They're trying to help you understand what you need to do so stop being a brat and grow up. Itachi. Just relax kid, don't get worked up over small things so easily."

Shisui could swear he saw Kakashi smile at Itachi at the end. When he tore his gaze away from his captain to look at the chunin, he saw her dejected look and was glad to see her reflecting on what Kakashi had just said. Shisui knew Kurenai grew up with and respected Kakashi so she was bound to take his words to heart - at least he hoped so.

"But-"

"No." Kakashi interrupted her before she could say any other excuse. "If you want constructive criticism, let us know and we'll talk more in depth but you _cannot_ refute every statement we make. In fact, we'll stop with the pointers and tips if you talk back at all."

The rest of the evening was spent planning the next destination for their mission, and again, Kurenai never stepped up to the plate to give ideas on how to approach the next group.

* * *

"Don't lose track of your enemies this time, Uchiha." Kurenai quipped as they approached their targets.

"Then this time you should face more than one opponent like us at the start, so you actually have to pull your own weight for once."

Shisui was trying his best not to laugh at Kurenai's reaction to what Itachi had just said. He had to admit that a flustered Itachi was quite brutal yet so entertaining, but Shisui knew this was the only place where he could speak his mind and destress from clan business.

"What the hell are you talking about this time?" The chunin seethed.

"Last time when you were busy facing the weakest of the group we each had 2 or 3 enemies to deal with. Be on your guard even when fighting an enemy, you never know when there'll be more that join the fight." Shisui said before Itachi could speak since he didn't want Kurenai to be distracted when they found their targets.

Itachi and Shisui picked up their speed to join with Kakashi and Genma, leaving Kurenai to struggle and catch up. That was another thing that Shisui took note of; Kurenai's stamina was substandard.

The ambush came as a surprise to everyone seeing as they were still 10 minutes away from their destination. The missing nins must have found out there was a group of Konoha shinobi chasing them down because they came from all sides and surrounded them.

The battle was intense and complete chaos but thankfully Shisui and Itachi worked together flawlessly as did Genma and Kakashi. That left Kurenai to either fight on her own or try to incorporate her into one of their two man teams.

Shisui saw Genma motion to them to switch places meaning Genma and Kakashi were going to try to bring Kurenai into their attack formation. With that issue resolved, Shisui focused on his and Itachi's enemies and tried to gauge their skills.

They both began their taijutsu assault to make sure they would have enough chakra and stamina to last until all the missing nin were taken care of. From a quick calculation, Shisui determined that they would each have to deal with five shinobi but he already knew that Kurenai wouldn't be able to so they would all have to be on the lookout for the stray missing nins.

Shisui fell into step with Itachi as with great ease as the ten shinobi around them attacked at once. Shisui waited until the first one was close enough to touch with an extended arm and sidestepped the kunai aimed at his throat. He felt Itachi shift his weight to the left, meaning he was going to move to the right so Shisui went the opposite way and, with his Sharingan activated, he took out his tanto and in one fell swoop his first enemy had a severed jugular.

He quickly cast a genjutsu on two more shinobi and they proceeded to fight themselves, leaving Shisui with only two more shinobi. Shisui watched as one shinobi sent a fireball jutsu towards him so he body flickered behind the man only to come face to face with the female missing nin. She was able to hide her chakra almost completely and Shisui didn't see her hiding behind the fire user. She managed to stab Shisui in the shoulder - though she aimed for his heart but he was able to move ever so slightly just in time - and he sliced into her stomach and the man's hip at the same time.

She grabbed Shisui's hand and didn't let go. The gash he had made in her stomach was much wider than he thought - she was going to bleed out shortly - but her strength wasn't waning one bit. The man turned around and grinned at Shisui as he stabbed through his partner's shoulder and reached Shisui's ribs with his sword. Shisui immediately let go of his own sword and backed away from the tip that had just barely pierced his skin.

He viciously sent a fireball big enough and hot enough to instantly engulf the two shinobi and body flickered away as their screams reached his ears. On his way to see Itachi he noticed that the genjutsu had worked and both men had lost their lives in their fight against each other. That meant that all five of Shisui's enemies were down. He noticed Itachi dodging and almost dancing through two shinobis' defenses and he looked unharmed. Shisui internally scoffed and smiled at his cousin's raw talent.

From the corner of his eye he saw Kurenai fighting two shinobi near one of the largest tree he had ever seen and surprisingly enough she was doing quite well. He watched her land a few hits on one of her enemies but there didn't seem to be much weight into the attack since the man barely flinched. She seemed to be getting tired pretty quickly and Shisui knew that they would outlast her. He approached her position while making sure his chakra was suppressed so no one would notice him, and he kept track of everything that was happening around him; Kakashi was fighting two shinobi, Genma had one left and Itachi was just about finishing off his last one. However, there were still four shinobi that were not engaged in battle that Shisui could sense.

Shisui assumed that if there was one shinobi who was able to mask her chakra enough for him to be unable to sense it, there may be another shinobi or two that were capable so there may be more than four shinobi not engaged in battle and waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Kurenai managed to lodge her kunai into a burly man's throat and stood to face off against her other opponent. The two female shinobis started another bout of taijutsu and it was clear that they were both physical very tired.

Shisui looked away towards Itachi for a split second to make sure he was in no danger and when he looked back at Kurenai he saw movement from the corner of his eye; there was a shinobi that ran towards her and she seemed completely oblivious even though he was barely an arm's length away.

Shisui did the only thing he could think of; he body flickered between Kurenai and the shinobi and took a sword to the ribs - it would have pierced Kurenai's heart had he not intervened. He felt more than saw Kurenai turn towards him as his world faded to black.


	14. Chapter 14

**Another chapter! This one is slightly longer than usual, I hope you guys enjoy. Let me know if you guys think things are progressing slowly or if it's a good pace, I'm very curious to see what you think.**

 **I'm already partway through writing the next chapter and I'm hoping to be able to release it quicker than the typical month in between chapters.**

 **If you guys could change one thing about the Naruto story, what would it be?**

 **Please read and review :)**

 **P.S. Disclaimer... I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, only the OC that I decide to create for this story.**

* * *

The only thing he saw was red. There was so much blood everywhere and he was so angry. He had never been this angry before in his life but he knew that now was not the time to release his anger on the one responsible for this mess.

He was glad Kurenai was staying in her own corner and not coming close to his cousin because he knew if she came any closer he would give her a piece of his mind.

After Shisui had foolishly protected Kurenai, Itachi had half a mind to let her die since she was too busy gaping at Shisui with her mouth open, completely oblivious to her actual opponent's movement. But Itachi's body moved on its own and killed the man who impaled Shisui. Thankfully Shisui's wound didn't seem fatal but then again, Itachi wasn't a medic so his assessment was just him being hopeful.

Itachi turned and mercilessly killed the female shinobi who was inches away from killing Kurenai - she was still staring at Shisui, oblivious to everything around her. Itachi then placed an A rank genjutsu on his surroundings about 10 meters in diameter to make sure no one would interfere. As he looked Shisui over, he noticed Kurenai crouching down next to Shisui and his blood began to boil.

"Get away from him." He stated in a commanding tone.

"I… I can't. It's because of me that he…" she stammered pathetically.

"Of course it's your fault. It's your fault for being an incompetent shinobi. You shouldn't even be a chunin, you can't hold your own against any shinobi who can breathe. Now _get away_ from him."

Kurenai turned to look at Itachi and she froze as soon as she faced him. She slowly stood up and backed away from Shisui - she was finally doing something right - so Itachi crouched down to inspect Shisui's wounds.

Genma and Kakashi arrived shortly after and they both froze a second when Itachi looked at them but they regained their composure quickly.

"We need to get him to a hospital, Konoha is too far but I know of a small village with a decent clinic." Genma informed them. It also came as no surprise to everyone seeing as Genma knew every corner of Fire country; he loved roaming the countryside whenever he could spare a few days off.

"Pretty nasty genjutsu you cast in the area here Itachi, I don't think any sane person will come close." Kakashi noted.

"Where's the clinic?" Itachi asked as he assessed the best way to transport Shisui without making his condition worse.

"Genma, grab Shisui and go, we'll follow and protect you if needed. Itachi take the front, Kurenai and I will take the back. We _have_ to move fast. How far is the clinic?" Kakashi calmly gave orders.

"From here, I'd say I can make it in 10 or 15 minutes if I run like the devil was chasing me." Genma estimated. Itachi assumed he took into account having to carry Shisui but even then, 15 minutes seemed like too long.

"We can switch carrying him if it slows you down. Can we push for 10 minutes?" Itachi asked.

"We can try to switch in five minutes, but if you slow down while carrying him Itachi, we'll have to switch back." Genma warned.

Genma gave directions to everyone and Itachi set off immediately once Genma placed Shisui in a comfortable position for travelling.

After three minutes of travel, Itachi sensed a group of five up ahead, heading straight for them. Two of them felt familiar and he realized they were part of the same group that had hurt Shisui. He had no time to deal with this nuisance since his cousin was in critical condition. His rage boiled up again and he tried his best to keep a calm demeanor; it would do more harm if he messed up and wasted any time from stupid mistakes.

From the corner of his eye Itachi saw Kurenai struggle to get to the front with him - for what, he assumed was to help him with the offensive which would not happen if he had a say in it.

"I'll take the two rightmost ones." Kurenai said, out of breath.

"You will do no such thing, we can't afford to have stray enemies get passed us. I'll take care of the five, you go back with Taichou." Itachi said surprisingly calm.

"It's partly my fault for Shisui's condition, I have to help."

"The best way for you to help is to go back to the Village and not be a burden anymore, but I doubt you'll survive if you make the trip back on your own." Itachi turned to look at Kurenai and continued, "Don't get in my way and stay back."

"You're a real piece of shit you know that kid? You can't take them all on your own without slowing down, so stop thinking you're better than everyone, overconfidence will kill you and everyone else on your team. Try to learn what the word teamwork means."

Itachi meant to let out a trickle of killing intent but his anger and frustration let out a bit too much judging by the widening of Kurenai's eyes and the fact that she froze on the spot. Itachi kept moving and left her on the tree branch; he had enemies to take care of quickly.

He saw three of the enemies just ahead of him and sensed the other two slightly further. He quickly thought of the best way to deal with them and settled on genjutsu. Itachi channeled all his anger, frustration and fear into the genjutsu and managed to catch all five in it despite the distance. He wanted to make them hurt just like Shisui had been hurt and he wanted it to last for days.

A few seconds after he cast his genjutsu he saw and sensed all five collapse to the ground. He surprised himself with the effectiveness of his attack but didn't spend much time thinking about it, he was just glad that there would be no resistance for their remaining travels.

* * *

It took the doctors far too long to get Shisui stabilized but as soon as they did, Itachi refused to leave his cousin's bedside. The rest of his team had gone out to get food and rooms for the night while Itachi strained his eyes by scanning every inch of Shisui's body to see if there were any chakra fluctuations. The clinic rarely dealt with shinobi injuries so they didn't have any medic nin capable of determining any problems related to the chakra network so Itachi took it upon himself to figure it out. He spent a long time paranoid that every abnormality in Shisui's system meant the worst but eventually Genma told him that it was normal for slight fluctuations when sleeping or unconscious.

Kurenai kept her distance for which Itachi was thankful, he was tired of dealing with anything she said. Every time she spoke, he just wanted to yell at her since she spouted nonsense and was a hypocrite. He had no idea why she even thought of becoming a jonin since she had no right to even be going on missions outside the village if you asked him.

"We'll have to stay until Shisui is good to move on his own. The only good thing is that Itachi completed the mission with those last five missing nins so we can take all the time we need and maybe sight see." Kakashi informed everyone from the comfort of his plastic chair while reading his _Icha Icha Paradise_.

"Kurenai, there's a clearing nearby, I can train you a bit when we have time." Genma stated quietly.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that. It wouldn't hurt that's for sure." She responded meekly.

Itachi couldn't help but turn to look at her. He evaluated her expression and came to the conclusion that she was sincere and may have finally realized her shortcomings.

"Kakashi, Itachi, do you think you could help me if you have time?" She continued.

"You know I'm not the type to teach people things, I wouldn't even know where to begin." Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I won't help you." Itachi stated with a tone of finality.

"And why not? If I'm as terrible as you say, wouldn't the best thing be to help me get better?"

"It would be a waste of my time. I see no need to teach someone who will refute everything I say, plus you should learn the basics on your own before begging for help from others." Itachi had turned his back to Kurenai to respond to her stupid question.

"I know the basics." She seethed.

"You know the academy basics but you never took it upon yourself to improve on those. You rely too much on your genjutsu which still needs a lot of improvement. Learn to cast a genjutsu in the middle of a battle without losing focus then you may be able to fight half decently."

"You think you know everything because you're an Uchiha. Well I have news for you, you're nothing but a child soldier and you were born and raised to be a fighter. The rest of us have had a childhood and have fun when we're not doing missions."

Itachi knew Kurenai was lashing out to try to hurt him verbally but she didn't know a single thing about him. Like everyone else, she assumed he didn't enjoy anything in life. Only a select few people could make him happy and he cherished all the time he could spend with them. He could even count the people he truly cared for on one hand and he was glad for it since he found most people to be annoying. He had teammates that he could get along with for the duration of missions but not many teammates he would spend time outside of missions with.

A good day was a day where he was able to be around either his mother, his brother, his cousin or Sakura. An amazing day was a day where he could see all four but those didn't happen too often. He made a mental note to try to visit Sakura more often even if Shisui wasn't with him since Akio had also started to go see her.

"'Tachi?"

Itachi was broken out of his thoughts to focus on Shisui and couldn't help the small raise of his lips at the happiness he felt. Genma stood on the opposite side of Shisui and laid a hand on his shoulder as a show of support. Kakashi even took his nose out of his book and stood up to greet Shisui back to the realm of consciousness. Kurenai stayed in her corner and Itachi was fine with that as she wasn't actually part of the team and was the reason for this scare.

"Did you guys finish the mission?" Shisui's strained to ask.

"We sure did, Itachi disposed of the last five in record time on our way here." Genma said cheerfully.

Shisui shot Itachi a questioning glance and Itachi simply nodded his head, knowing that Shisui understood his non-verbal response; it was something Itachi wanted to discuss with him in private.

"Leave it to the prodigy- no wait the newest prodigy to finish things efficiently, though I'm not surprised." Shisui bragged about his cousin.

"We'll all stay here until you can move on your own, there weren't many missions available so it doesn't matter that we'll arrive late." Kakashi updated Shisui.

"This is just because Taichou wants to use the public baths here and read his book. His own self-made vacation if you will." Genma teased.

Itachi was always amazed at Genma's ability to lighten the mood and make everyone laugh and he envied him a little bit but Itachi kept telling himself that he was able to make the ones who mattered to him laugh somehow so it wasn't all bad.

* * *

They left several days later when Shisui was finally able to move at Kurenai's speed and he was very excited to be back home. Staying in a hospital was not the most comfortable way to recover from a near fatal injury but it was necessary to stay under supervision to make sure no complications arose. He could feel Kurenai's heated stare at his cousin and wondered how badly things had gone between the two when he was unconscious and resolved to speak to Itachi later.

The sun had already set and as they approached the front gates of Konoha, Kakashi informed them that he would give the initial report and to be at the Hokage's office the following morning at 9 for a full debrief. Kakashi barely greeted the gate guards and left for the Hokage's office as Genma bid farewell to both Uchiha with Kurenai following him.

"Do you have to go home right away?" Shisui asked Itachi as they approached the two guards. It was customary that someone from the team sign the team in with the gate guards, which tended to be Itachi since he was typically the youngest member of the team.

"Hey Shisui, you just missed the cutest kid." Kotetsu - one of the guards that Shisui had gotten to know while Itachi signed them in all the time - said with a huge smile.

"Um, alright? Thanks for letting me know, I guess." Shisui was never one to be good with kids so he wondered why the older male thought to talk to him specifically about a kid.

Shisui saw Itachi shrug and turn to Izumo to sign in. Itachi was a pro at it seeing as they went on several missions every month.

"She's been coming here almost every afternoon and evening for the past few days. I saw her before at a funeral and even though she probably doesn't remember us being there, it would still feel weird to talk to a kid so we left her alone. After a few days, I got too curious and had to talk to her. She's the only kid I've ever seen with pink hair so it's hard to forget her." Kotetsu rambled and Shisui really started paying attention as soon as he heard of the kid's hair colour.

"What do you mean she's been coming here almost every day?" Shisui asked, confused.

"At first, she said she was waiting for someone special to come back home and yesterday she confessed she was waiting for you to come back from your mission, she said you were late so she was getting worried."

Shisui felt a pang in his heart from worrying Sakura even though it's not something he could control. The fact that she would wait for him every day after school meant the world to him, but he also worried that she was walking alone in the village late in the evening.

"When did she leave tonight?" Shisui prompted.

"Not even ten minutes ago, you just missed her."

"Itachi, are you ready to go? We have a stop to make before the compound." Shisui told his cousin excitedly.

Itachi nodded and together they jumped atop the rooftops and ran towards Sakura's house. Shisui scanned the streets as they passed by them to make sure they didn't miss her but she wasn't on the roads which meant she must be home.

Shisui made his way to the kitchen window to enter but Itachi grabbed onto his arm and stopped him.

"She may not know it's you, just knock."

It made perfect sense to him once Itachi voiced it, but Shisui couldn't think clearly he just wanted to see his Princess again. He rapped his knuckles against the door and waiting impatiently for what felt like hours until the door opened and he saw the person he had thought of when the shinobi stabbed him. His first thought when that happened was that he wouldn't get to see her smile again and he wouldn't get to see her become a genin and he wouldn't get to go on missions with her like they planned. He couldn't help but let a few tears escape as he picked her up and hugged her with all his might, trying to express himself without words.

After a few minutes he put her down and watched as she put her arms around Itachi's waist and squeezed him to welcome him back. He saw Itachi instantly return then hug, no hesitation at all which was a monumental step for his cousin.

Sakura walked back into her house and they followed to sit in the kitchen. Halfway there, Sakura stopped and turned towards them, smiling like she had a secret she couldn't tell them.

"Did you notice anything different?" She asked, barely able to contain herself.

Shisui looked around the house to try to notice what change she was talking about but didn't notice a single thing that was different from what he remembered. Granted, he never actually bothered to memorize the house but he figured it should be something pretty obvious judging by her excitement. He looked at Itachi to see if he had noticed but just received a shrug in return.

"Sorry Princess, I don't really notice anything." Shisui said sheepishly.

"Both of you stop and look at me." Sakura commanded so they both did as told.

Shisui gasped at the same exact time as Itachi when they finally realized what was so different with her. She was walking normally without either her crutches or leaning against a wall.

"When did you… and how? How long were we even gone for?" Shisui spluttered.

"I spent the last three weeks practicing every day. I can only do this for a few minutes before I run out of chakra, but it's possible! We'll be able to run through the trees when I'm a genin!" She exclaimed.

Shisui felt like a parent who had missed their child take their first steps. It was something that he would have loved to have been able to help her with but he also didn't think it would have been possible for her to walk normally any time soon. He was pleasantly surprised yet saddened that he missed part of her improvement.

"What's this about you spending everyday waiting for me at the gates?" Shisui asked teasingly to which Sakura's face reddened.

"I wanted to be there when you got here. I wanted to make sure you were alive." she responded quietly. "Wait, how do you know I did that?"

"I know everything, Princess." Shisui continued to tease her.

"I bet it was Hedgehog, he seems like the most likely one to gossip." Sakura deduced out loud.

Shisui burst out laughing and Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at Sakura's nickname for Kotetsu. They laughed even more when Sakura covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes widened like saucers when she realized she said his nickname outloud.

"His name is Kotetsu." Shisui managed to say when his laughing slowed.

"Did you call him Hedgehog, Sakura-chan?" Itachi asked with a smile.

Sakura looked mortified and shook her head. "I could never do that! I barely even talked to him."

"So you just sat there and didn't speak to the only two other people there? That must have been pretty boring." Shisui noted with a warm smile.

"It wasn't boring because I had my books, and I practiced sensing chakra. I'm getting better at it." She finished while looking at the ground, not wanting to brag.

"I'm guessing you probably read all your Academy textbooks." Itachi added.

"They weren't very long and there's nothing hard in them. I just wish I could be waiting at the gates when I'm in school in case you two would get home." Sakura pouted.

"You know I'll come see you when I get back, Princess, you don't have to wait at the gates." Shisui said fondly.

"But it makes me feel better when I wait for you. I wish it was possible to be in two places at once."

Shisui shared a look with Itachi, both thinking the same thing and debating it they should show her. After a few seconds of deliberating, they decided that yes, they would teach her how to be in two places at once.

"Princess, what we're about to teach you can be very dangerous so you'll have to do as we say." Shisui started. He didn't want to scare her too much but he really didn't want anything to happen to her.

"This is called a shadow clone, watch closely, you only need to do one seal to do this jutsu." Itachi instructed and proceeded to form the clone seal and created an exact copy of himself.

Sakura looked beyond fascinated and Shisui assumed this was her first time seeing a clone which confused him seeing as her aunt and uncle were shinobi but he didn't dwell on that fact. He knew that they weren't fighters and probably didn't have a need to use clones. Shisui watched as Sakura slowly raised her hand to touch Itachi's clone on the arm and was surprised to see that it was tangible.

"I read that you can't touch clones, but these ones are real." Sakura spoke in amazement.

"A traditional clone is just an illusion, you can't touch it, and you can't be harmed by anything it does, but this is a shadow clone. Casting this distributes your chakra evenly between you and the clone so it becomes real. You can harm it and you can also be harmed by anything it does. The most important thing with this technique is that we only want you to do one clone, if you make more it will be very dangerous and you can die." Itachi explained to her.

Sakura gulped and hesitated, she didn't seem too excited about learning the shadow clone technique anymore.

"Can I try to do it?" She asked

"I'll give you a tip on how to learn different jutsus. It may not seem like it will do much right now, but just be patient. Make the seals in the correct order without channeling chakra at least a hundred times before you start to channel chakra. This will get you used to forming the seals and it'll almost become second nature." Itachi liked to teach others who were worth his time and that he wanted to see succeed.

Sakura nodded and formed the clone seal repeatedly and quickly until Itachi stopped her.

"Go slowly at first. You're also forming the seal with your hands incorrectly."

"I'm sorry." Sakura said dejectedly, letting her hands fall to her sides.

Itachi crouched down and grabbed Sakura's hands to help her form the seal. He showed her the clone seal with his hands and corrected her as she tried to form it. Once Itachi was confident that Sakura could form the seal on her own, she slowly brought her hands together while looking at Itachi for approval.

Shisui couldn't help but smile at the sight of Itachi teaching his Princess how to make a shadow clone and resolved to get Itachi to teach her most things. He knew he wasn't the best teacher and was struggling to find a way to teach her his body flicker technique since it came natural to him after all these years.

He sat down and was happy with the simple thought of what his life could be like if he wasn't part of his clan. He was getting more and more involved in the clan politics similarly to Itachi but at least he wasn't the clan heir so he had a bit less pressure to spy on his own village. Shisui had been talking to Itachi and trying to plan for a way to avoid having the Uchiha start a coup, but the only solution they had any hope of working, was to use kotoamatsukami, Shisui's mangekyo sharingan ultimate genjutsu to convince the Uchiha clan to forgo the uprising. The biggest problem with that is they would have to execute their plan at a pivotal point in the decision making when enough members were present and could be put in the genjutsu.

One issue with that was that Shisui had never tried to cast his ultimate genjutsu on so many people before so there was no guarantee that it would work and they would be successful. Shisui was hoping that he would get a mission where he could practice casting the genjutsu but to date, no such mission had been available, so they had to bide their time. Only in the last few weeks did Fugaku start putting more pressure on Itachi and himself seeing as they were the two most highly regarded Uchiha in the shinobi ranks since they were ANBU.

The clan felt like the village was preventing them from making any village decisions and were even reducing the amount of missions that Uchiha members were sent on. The fact that the village didn't seem to have any issues with the Hyuga clan made it even worse. The two clans always butted heads and had been regarded as the strongest clans of the village for some time but now it seems the Hyuga were favored over the Uchiha which was unacceptable. The fact that one of the founding members of the village had been an Uchiha only served to anger the clan.

"When's your next mission?" Sakura asked, breaking Shisui away from his thoughts. It was a welcome distraction since he had been thinking about the clan when he just wanted to relax.

"I don't have any missions planned so far, so I get to see you every day." He told her while ruffling her hair and once again forgetting about his clan issues.

The smile that bloomed on her face was enough to make anyone forget what they were thinking about and just want to keep her happy.

* * *

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that all her blankets and her Wolfie were still on her bed. Usually when she woke up alone, her blankets were thrown about and her Wolfie was halfway across the room but for some reason, that morning everything was as it should be. She also couldn't remember waking up in the middle of the night scared out of her mind that the tendril monster was hunting her down. Her heart fluttered with happiness, it was the first morning in a long time where she slept soundly with no interruptions.

Sakura stretched in bed and hugged Wolfie with all her might - she still had plenty of time to eat breakfast and walk to the Academy. She sat up quickly as the smell of pancakes reached her nose.

"Mama? Takeshi-kun?" She yelled out. She quickly got out of bed and walked to the kitchen with Wolfie still in hands. Though her family hadn't returned, her smile didn't leave, instead she ran up to Shisui and wrapper her arms around his legs.

"You just ran towards me, Princess!" He exclaimed and she realized that her leg didn't hurt even though she had ran several metres. She must have subconsciously channeled chakra to her leg but just as that thought hit her, she felt the drain in her chakra. She now understood how much chakra would be needed in order to run as much as every other kid and it deflated her a bit. It felt like it would take her years to be able to run through the trees with Shisui and even then she didn't think it would be possible to run for long.

"What would you like with your pancakes?" He prompted her.

Sakura walked around the kitchen and gathered all the toppings she could possibly want - caramel, syrup, fruits, chocolate - and placed them on the kitchen table.

Sakura swore that Shisui had a secret technique to making pancakes because they were the best she had ever tasted. Even her mother's secret recipe didn't stand a chance against the pancakes she was currently eating. She wondered if he would be able to teach her his secret one day so she could surprise him with pancakes. She watched as Shisui ate his half of the pancakes like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Did you eat during your mission?" She asked him, curious.

"Of course, but it's never home cooked meals. We have to eat what we can hunt if we're on a mission where making fires doesn't jeopardize our position. If it's best to not make a fire, then we eat dried fruit, nuts, chakra pills and rations. Definitely nothing as amazing as pancakes with chocolate and fruit."

"Can you tell me about your mission?" Sakura asked. She watched Shisui's downcast eyes look left and right until he plastered on a weak smile for her.

"I don't want to give you all the details, but the one thing I can tell you, is to never be overconfident about your skills. I think it's always best to keep striving to become better and never think you are better than others, because if you do, that's when you'll get hurt or cause your teammates to get hurt."

Sakura was getting used to Shisui's serious side and always made sure to commit what he said to memory. While he was making pancakes, she noticed his posture was slouched and that he usually rested a hand on his side which was abnormal. The only thing she could think was that he had been hurt during the mission and with his latest comment, she figured he had been over confident in his skills and gotten hurt. It seemed like a sore subject so Sakura opted to not press him for more information.

Sakura finished her half of the pancakes as Shisui laughed - he still was astounded that she could eat all those pancakes - and got dressed and ready for the Academy.

She was glad that Shisui was walking with her to the Academy; she adored his company and his little comments about different shinobi they encountered. Shisui seemed to have funny stories for every single person they crossed paths with and by the time they reached the Academy, tears of laughter flowed freely down her face. She expected that he exaggerated some of the stories but she didn't care, she always listened to every word he said.

"I don't have a mission, so don't wait for me at the gates Princess." He teased her. "I have a few things to do today but I can come to your house when I'm done if you want."

Sakura nodded her head and squeezed his hand before walking with her crutches towards the front door of the Academy where she would hopefully catch a glimpse of Ino before classes started. She looked back to see Shisui still standing there with a smile on his face, waving to her.

As she rounded the corner to get into her class, she came nose to nose with someone and felt a wet tongue lick her cheek. Her face flushed instantly and she felt her cheeks getting hotter by the second - everyone in class was probably looking at her and someone had just licked her.

The only thing she heard was the resounding beat of her heart and her breathing as she recognized the boy in front of her. He had two red marks on his face and his face was just as red as she imagined hers to be. They were locked in a staring match and Sakura felt another lick, this time on her chin. She slowly lowered her eyes, only to notice the small white dog staring at her and wagging his tail - he was perched on Kiba's shoulder much like a bird would be. She was relieved that it was the dog that had licked her and not a person but she was still standing there, terrified to face any teasing from the other kids.

"Sakura-chan, Kiba-kun, please take your seats." Iruka-sensei said as he walked into the classroom.

Sakura looked down and apologized to Kiba as she quickly walked to her seat near Shikamaru and Choji. She sat down and rested her forehead on the desk while trying to steady her breathing and be invisible to the world. She felt a nudge on her shoulder so she peaked with one eye to notice Choji holding out his bag of chips for her.

"Eating these always makes me feel better." He whispered timidly.

She couldn't help but smile at the gesture. Ino had told her that Choji rarely shared his chips for fear that he wouldn't be able to have the last one of the bag. She locked eyes with Choji and he didn't look away. Ino had also mentioned that Choji avoided locking eyes with others so he wouldn't have to see their disgust. To Sakura, Choji's actions were monumental and it served to show her that he did understand and that he's there for her.

She hesitantly reached out to grab a chip while thanking Choji - the chips were actually very good and she made a note to get a few bags for him when she got the chance. Her embarrassment temporarily forgotten, Sakura sat up and listened to Iruka say they were going to go watch a few spars that afternoon between the students one year older than them.

Naruto was ecstatic and couldn't keep quiet. Kiba joined Naruto in the cacophony until Iruka lost his temper and scared the living daylights out of the two boys. Sakura raised her hand, and asked if Ino's class would join them in spectating the spars. To her disappointment, Ino's class would be watching other students spar during the morning.

Just like every other day at lunch, Sakura seeked Ino out and ate with the group that Ino had gathered. Sakura couldn't help but notice that Kiba and Naruto had started a fight - it was mostly arms flailing about but there was some shouting. She wanted to go split them up but didn't want to attract any attention to herself so she stayed seated and simply observed.

"Sakura, do you agree?" Ino's voice broke through Sakura's thoughts.

"To what?" Sakura asked meekly.

"That we should be starting to spar this year, that way we'll get more training."

Sakura looked down at her leg and saw Ino noticeably flinch from the corner of her eye. She didn't want to disagree with Ino but it was hard not to at the moment.

"I think it's good that we wait a year." Sakura said quietly.

"Why, forehead-girl? I don't want to wait an entire year before beating you up without getting in trouble."

Everyone turned around at the sound of Ami's voice and saw her henchmen with her. This was the first time Ami spoke to Sakura while Ino was there. A shiver ran down Sakura's spine and she could feel herself starting to sweat. It was not a good sign that Ami was growing bolder.

She should have seen it coming, but she was still surprised when a yelling and name calling match broke out between Ino and Ami that attracted almost all her classmates. Sakura didn't notice who had thrown the first punch but it didn't take long before the teachers came and gave detention to both Ino and Ami.

"I'll gladly go to detention if it means I can knock Ami down a peg or two for you" Ino reassured her after Sakura had started apologizing for causing Ino to get detention.

Sakura felt like a failure, having needed Ino to defend her. She was able to defend others but for some reason when it came to defending herself, she was lost. She spent her walk back to class telling herself that from this point on, no one would ever need to defend her; she would do it herself.

The closer she got to the classroom the more annoyed she became with herself until someone's head collided with her nose and she fell to the ground. Disoriented, she saw a head of short blond hair and could hear someone apologizing and yelling.

"Look what you did, idiot! Her nose is bleeding." Kiba yelled.

"You bastard! You pushed me." Naruto yelled back.

And just like that, Sakura was forgotten. She watched as the two continued to fight - why no one had bothered to break them up was beyond her.

"Stop…" she started quietly but when the two boys kept on arguing and fighting she got angry "Stop!"

They both stopped in their tracks and looked at her like she was an alien. They had never heard her yell before and she was glad that was all she needed to do to stop their bickering.

"But Sakura-chan, he embarrassed you this morning and just now he hurt you. Do you have to go to the hospital?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be fine, just stop fighting, please?"

Sakura watched as the two boys stared at her then at each other before deflating.

"Ok Sakura-chan, I'll stop for you." Naruto relented.

"Yeah, me too I guess." Kiba agreed which seemed as painful for him as pulling teeth.

Sakura was still sitting when she felt a light weight on her legs. She looked down and saw the white dog looking up at her and wagging his tail.

Sakura had never gotten to interact with a dog before, she had only watched from a distance, always hopeful that she would one day get to pet one. She was so excited that she ignored everything around her and simply smiled at the dog as she tentatively reached up with her hand to pet it. His fur was softer than she could have ever imagined it to be and she couldn't help the tears of joy falling down her face.

She hesitantly reached for the dog with her other hand and hugged it close to her chest. It was then that she realized how much she missed giving and receiving hugs. Sure she had hugged Shisui and Itachi but she was used to giving and receiving daily hugs. She made herself a promise to hug her few friends every day and she hoped it would work wonders for her psyche.

"Akamaru, come on boy, we can't be late for class" Kiba urged but Sakura held on.

"Sakura-chan, why are you crying? We won't fight anymore." Naruto tried to soothe her worries.

Sakura relented but finally let go of Akamaru and stood up. She walked up to Naruto and gave him a smile and a hug he would never forget. It felt great hugging someone even though Naruto was frozen in place and not returning the hug. He almost seemed afraid of the hug which didn't make sense, did his parents not give him any hugs? Sakura chanced a look at Kiba and saw his crestfallen demeanor as he walked to class.

"Sorry Naruto, I needed a hug. I won't do that again." She didn't fail to see the tears in Naruto's eyes as she pulled away from him. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly with a flushed face and just looked at Sakura.

"No, no I liked it. I just never…" he trailed off.

"You never what?" Sakura asked since there was no way he had never been hugged before in his life. She determined that he had never been hug by someone his own age before which was quite reasonable seeing as most of the kids avoided him.

"We should get to class." Naruto changed the subject. He seemed uncomfortable talking about getting hugged but Sakura decided to leave it alone.

She went to sit with Shikamaru and Choji but from the corner of her eye she saw Kiba looking at her. He quickly looked away when she glanced at him and her heart sank realizing that somehow someone else didn't like her. Maybe he didn't like her because she pet his dog without his permission so she mentally berated herself for screwing up another chance at friendship.

* * *

As soon as the bell rang he ran outside not really bothering to hear what Iruka-sensei had to say. He wanted to make sure he would be there and offer to walk her home - if she let him of course and if her parents didn't object. Once he was outside, he realized he could have just waited for her inside the classroom but that thought hadn't crossed his mind at the time.

He stood there for several seconds before he started feeling stupid for just standing there and waiting. He looked around to see what he could do to occupy his time so he didn't look like he was only waiting for her.

Akamaru's bark gave him the answer he was looking for; he could play with his dog to pass the time. He mentally face palmed at not automatically thinking of that distraction but for some reason he couldn't think straight today. Maybe it was the fact that he had been embarrassed first thing in the morning or that he accidentally pushed Naruto into Sakura.

She walked out of the Academy on her crutches and alone and Kiba hesitated. He was hoping she would want to walk with him and his sister - maybe he could bribe her with petting Akamaru if she didn't want to. It seemed she wasn't waiting for her parents since she started walking away immediately.

He snapped out of it when he realized she was getting further away and he was still standing there like an idiot. Kiba ran towards Sakura and called for her to wait up.

He saw the confusion in her eyes as she turned to look at him. He scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously before speaking up.

"Did you want to walk with me? And my sister too when she gets here." He quickly added.

She blinked a couple of times and Kiba panicked. He thought she was trying to find a way to reject him so he kept talking.

"You can pet and play with Akamaru. Maybe my sister will let you pet her dogs too." That was all he could offer, if she said no, he had nothing else to give.

He saw her eyes light up and she quickly looked down at Akamaru. She crouched down and extended her hand towards Akamaru so he could sniff it. One lick on her hand later and she was petting Akamaru as if it was the best thing in the world.

"Kiba, right?" She asked.

It took him a few seconds to realize she was speaking to him so he eventually nodded and let out a small chuckle.

"Did you… want to be friends?" Sakura spoke so quietly that he was barely able to hear her but he was glad he did.

"Only if I get a hug like Naruto did." Why he said that, he wasn't sure but he could admit to himself that he had felt left out.

Kiba watched as Sakura shakily stood up and took a step towards him. Right before she hugged him he caught a glimpse of her flushed face. It was such a comfortable hug that he relaxed completely and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

He loved the one armed hugs his mother would give him occasionally but his family wasn't the type to give calm and comforting physical gestures so this was new to him. His family was loud and boisterous and best expressed themselves in a rambunctious way, never really slowing down their pace.

He wasn't sure if it was just Sakura's hugs but he felt completely safe and loved - though there was no reason for him to be in danger, it was just the first sentiment that came to mind.

Kiba knew his face was red so when she pulled away he quickly turned away from her to look for his sister. He spotted her in the distance and was glad since he didn't want Sakura to be bored waiting around.

"That's my sister over there. Did you still want to walk with us?" He hurried.

"Sure. I like being with friends."

He spent the time it took his sister to reach them looking at Sakura's genuine smile and couldn't help but reciprocate the sentiment.


	15. Chapter 15

**Another Chapter finally!**

 **Sorry it took so long, I would love to be able to publish a chapter every week but it takes a while to get everything in order and write it half decently.**

 **Again, please let me know what you guys thought, we will be speeding things up shortly and a lot of things will happen.**

 **I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas, and I will try to get another chapter out the first few weeks of January.**

 **Let me know if you would prefer shorter chapters but more frequent updates, or if bigger chapters work.** **I would also love to know if there are certain characters you want to see more of in upcoming chapters.**

 **I love all your reviews, they put a smile on my face, sometimes a devious one because I know how the story will unfold and sometimes an appreciative one.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

He stood at the edge of the park with his sister and waved to Sakura as she walked away with the Uchiha. To say he had fun was an understatement. He had gone to the park and played with friends before but it usually involved doing silly things and competing, like seeing who could jump furthest off the swing or running backwards up the slide fastest, however with Sakura, they had made up stories about dragons or pretended that they were shinobi and went on missions.

Even when the Uchiha - Kiba couldn't remember his name, he had been too engrossed in his and Sakura's adventures to pay attention - arrived to bring Sakura home, they managed to rope him and Hana into playing with them for a bit.

"Kiba, since you like missions so much, I have a new one for you. It's very time sensitive." His sister said sweetly.

He knew she was up to something devious since she only used that tone when teasing him. He gulped loudly and slowly turned to her now that Sakura had rounded a corner and was out of sight.

"You have to escort Akamaru home. Let's pretend he needs urgent medical attention and our home is the only place he can get healed. However, I'm a missing-nin intent on destroying the place. You have to arrive home before me." She explained.

"That's not fair, you can run on the rooftops!" Kiba exclaimed.

"To make it fair, I won't run on the rooftops, I'll stick to the roads."

"That's still not fair, you can use chakra." Kiba said. He didn't think he could outrun his sister yet, so maybe by finding enough excuses, she would back out - he knew she would never back out but it didn't hurt to be hopeful.

"I won't use any chakra. Now stop with the excuses, what happened to your 'boys run faster than girls' attitude?" She teased.

Kiba cursed himself for ever saying that in front of her. He didn't mean he was faster than her now, he meant that once they were both shinobi he would be faster. Boys were just better when it came to strength and speed in his mind.

"I'll even give you a minute head start so you stop complaining." Hana added.

Now this was something Kiba could win. Usually his run to the park took about five minutes, so if Hana gave him a whole minute head start, there was no way she would catch up without using chakra.

"You have to carry Akamaru so he can make sure you don't cheat." Kiba concluded.

"You would tell the missing-nin to take the package you were entrusted with for your mission? Kiba, you can't do that or your mission is a failure. I won't cheat, it would defeat the purpose of proving to your that girls can be faster than boys." She informed him.

"Fine. I'll beat you home easily with the head start, there's no way you can catch up!" Kiba was pumped.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," Hana added in that sickly-sweet tone and Kiba knew that whatever she said would be bad for him. "If I make it home before you, I'll tell Mom about your new friend."

At this last part, Kiba's face paled. His mother loved to tease him when he had a new friend and she was more adamant than his sister to make sure he was embarrassed in public. He assumed that the two would be even worse than usual since Sakura was a girl. At least he'll never say that his sister didn't know how to motivate him.

Kiba's heart was pumping fast despite not having started his run. Originally, he was going to carry Akamaru but now he had to make sure there was nothing that could slow him down. He tried to think - it wasn't his strong point but he sometimes managed to think of ways to get out of tough situations - of a reason to not carry his ninken but the fear of teasing didn't help him think straight. He took a few deep breaths and after a dozen or so seconds he figured it out.

"Akamaru is poisoned, I don't have to carry him, he can still run." Kiba stated smugly and saw Hana give him a genuine smile and a slight nod.

Kiba was proud of himself for managing to out think his sister - little did he know, she was actually trying to help him think outside the box. With that in mind he looked at Akamaru who was ever so ready to start running and the two took off.

Kiba ran as fast as his little legs allowed him. At this rate he figured he could make it home in under five minutes. It seemed that fear was a great motivator and he would have to payback his sister in the future. It felt he had been running for an hour but judging by the stand of vegetables he had just passed he was about a fifth of the way home and he was already starting to get tired. He didn't think he had used up a lot of energy with Sakura but his tired legs said otherwise.

He focused on running and avoiding the people and obstacles in the streets but failed to notice the one thing he should have: Hana was now running beside him.

Akamaru let out a small bark to get Kiba's attention, and when he focused on his surroundings, his eyes widened in disbelief. How the hell she managed to catch up, he would not understand for years to come since he would refuse to believe that she didn't cheat. She sped up and ran in front of him for several seconds then took off, leaving him in the dust.

When Kiba could see his house, he slowed down in defeat. His sister was sitting on the porch, relaxing in the evening sun with a big grin on her face. The worst part was that she didn't look the least bit tired when Kiba knew his face was flushed and he was drenched. He tried his best to stop panting like a dog by the time he reached his sister but failed miserably; he was just so tired.

"Nice try there slowpoke, maybe one day you'll be faster than a girl." Hana sighed.

"You cheated. That's the only way!" Kiba was yelling at this point, not able to keep his cool.

"One day you'll realize that I didn't cheat and that I'm just faster than you."

"I know you're faster than me, you're a genin and I'm not. But you can be that much faster than me!"

"Oh Kiba, you can't even accept a defeat."

Kiba's family always yelled when they disagreed with something, well everyone except for Hana. She was the odd one in terms of temperament, she tended to be quieter but eventually when pushed too far her instincts would kick in and she would be just as loud as the rest of her clan.

She stood up and walked inside with a sickening smile on her face. Kiba was tempted to stay outside and never see his family again. He was sure he and Akamaru could survive on their own, it couldn't be that difficult.

"Hey brats! Food's ready!" Kiba's mom yelled from inside the house.

Hana grabbed Kiba's arm and dragged him inside before he bolted off the porch. He tried to break free but stopped when she narrowed her eyes at him. The last thing he wanted to do was make things worse for himself.

* * *

"Hey Mom, little Kiba made a cute new friend today." Hana stated just after they started eating.

Kiba refused to look up from his plate, maybe if he didn't look at them, they wouldn't notice him.

"Oh really? Brat, are you going to bring him here at some point?" Her mother said with a light tease.

"Sakura is a girl." Kiba muttered.

Had it been anyone else other than members of the Inuzuka clan, no one would have heard. Unfortunately, both females heard him. Kiba looked up when the table went quiet and visibly gulp when he realized his mistake and the feral grin that spread across her mother's face was proof of all the mischief that would ensue.

* * *

Dinner with Shisui was always the highlight of her days. Surprisingly he was a very good cook and he enjoyed creating new recipes. She usually sat on the counter while he prepared everything. Sometimes he would give her small tasks to do while he did the difficult parts so it was a team effort.

He always tried to include her in everything and rarely did everything on his own. Even when they finished dinner, he would wash the dishes and she would dry them. He even joked around saying he was training her for D rank missions by getting her to dry the dishes. Sakura figured it was just an excuse to get her to dry them but she didn't mind; she liked helping out.

"Do you feel up to trying to make a shadow clone? It's getting too dark for the body flicker so we might as well wait for that one." Shisui said after the last dish was put away.

Sakura was nervous. She was nervous to try a new technique because she didn't want to fail. Her fear of failing was usually the reason why she didn't try new things and it took Shisui some coaxing but she finally agreed to give it a go.

She thought back on what Itachi had told her to do and she hesitantly brought her hands up into the clone seal. She repeated the seal slowly and methodically twenty times before she looked up at Shisui and nodded.

"Remember, you need to channel your chakra at the same time as the seal to create the shadow clone. You should feel half your chakra get drained so don't be scared." At that Shisui turned on his sharingan and gave her a reassuring smile.

Sakura formed the seal a few more times without chakra then took the plunge and formed the clone seal and added chakra. As soon as she finished the seal she panicked when she felt her chakra drain almost instantly but reminded herself that she had done it correctly if what Shisui said would happen actually happened. She saw smoke beside her and turned to look at an exact copy of herself.

Both girls were elated that it had worked and hugged each other.

"I did it! I did it!" Sakura cheered.

The first thing Sakura thought was that she would no longer be alone at home when Shisui and Itachi were on a mission. She could even play games with her clone when she wanted a break from reading. Both her and her clone jumped at Shisui and almost tackled him to the ground.

Sakura was thinking of asking her clone to go hide when her clone took off and yelled for Sakura to find her.

"Do I just have to think what I want her to do and she does it?" Sakura asked Shisui.

"Remember that she is you, you don't share thoughts but she thinks just like you. She acts the same way you would act but you can't control her with thoughts. If you want her to do something, you can tell her to do it but sometimes you may just be on the same page anyways." Shisui explained.

"Clone come back please." Sakura hesitated at first, not knowing exactly how to address her clone.

She looked on as her clone walked towards her without a limp or any sign of a shattered leg. Sakura felt a pang of jealousy that her clone was able to walk while she couldn't.

"She can walk normally? Well I wasn't expecting that." Shisui scratched the back of his head, confused.

Sakura crouched down and lifted her clone's right pant leg up and saw the scar that the blue-eyed man had carved into her - she refused to even think his name. The same scar that Sakura looked at every time she took a bath. The doctors had been able to heal the deep cut but the ugly scar that started from the back of her right shoulder and went all the way down to the back of her right ankle would stay with her for the rest of her life.

"She has the same scars, but not the shattered leg." Sakura concluded "Does your leg hurt... Clone?"

"Nope, and you can call me Sakura-chan. I am you after all." her clone replied.

"How does she go away?"

"There are a few ways, she'll be dispelled when she gets hit, when you pass out or run out of chakra or when you dispel her." Shisui informed Sakura.

"How long does a shadow clone last?"

"Now that's something you'll have to figure out. It's different for everyone depending on your chakra control and chakra pool. All I can say is that it's probably best that you create her only once a day until you get more comfortable with the jutsu." Shisui advised.

Sakura nodded and looked at her clone. They both smiled at each other until her clone ran off.

"Come find me, Sakura-chan!" The clone yelled.

* * *

"Are you busy today, Shisui?" Sakura asked as they were walking towards the Academy.

"I have the entire day off, it feels a bit strange actually." He informed her.

"Can I send a shadow clone with you so I can see how long it can last?"

Sakura had wanted to leave her clone at the Academy while she spent time with Shisui but it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have her clone dispel in the middle of class. She was hoping that one day she would be able to send her clone to sit in class so she could spend the day with Shisui.

"That sounds like a good idea, but promise me you'll dispel her if your chakra gets low. I don't want you to pass out from chakra exhaustion."

Sakura nodded and Shisui led her into an alley so no one would see her creating a clone. She took her time to do the clone seal without chakra then confidently formed the clone seal with chakra.

"Wait, Princess. You probably shouldn't be seen with your clone." Shisui said.

The thought of her and her clone being seen together hadn't crossed her mind until Shisui said so and it made sense. If anyone from class saw her, they would ask her too many questions that she wouldn't know how to answer.

Shisui hugged the real Sakura and jumped onto the roof of one of the houses with her clone on his back. Sakura envied her clone but told herself this was to test the duration of her shadow clone.

She continued her walk by herself and looked at the people she passed by. She noticed some shinobi that Shisui had pointed out the previous day and quietly laughed as she recalled his stories.

* * *

He had been running for the last twenty minutes when he decided to hide in the busy market. The winner of the game of tag would be rewarded with their favourite meal that night so he was determined to win. He slowed to a walk as he got to the village and tried to plan his route to prevent being ambushed in the open so he stuck to the most crowded streets.

He stopped when he saw her walk out of an alley. In all honesty, he never thought he would see her again; he never expected her to actually survive but it turned out that Shisui had made it in time that day.

Bisuke was torn between going to speak to her and continuing through the busy market.

He heard the distant bark of his fellow ninken which made up his mind; he had to keep moving. He assumed that she was heading to the Academy and he promised himself that he would go see her one day.

* * *

The bell for lunch hadn't even rung by the time Sakura was forced to dispel her clone. For the past hour she had been very conscious of the fact that her chakra reserves were starting to get low but as soon as she dispelled the clone, she was relieved that it stopped draining. Though she may have waited a bit too long seeing that she had a hard time keeping her eyes open.

However, she wasn't expecting all the images and feelings and memories to bombard her as soon as her clone was gone.

"Are you alright?" Choji asked her.

She barely registered what he said, her heart was beating loudly and she couldn't make heads or tails of the onslaught of information she had just received. She rested her head on her arms as a makeshift pillow, almost mirroring Shikamaru and waited until the pounding in her head slowed.

She saw flashes of Shisui carrying her and smiling, a short spar between Itachi and Shisui and best of all, she saw herself running around the training field.

She felt a nudge on her arm and peaked one eye out to look at Shikamaru.

"The bell rang, you should wake up." He said nonchalantly.

Sakura forced herself to get up and followed Shikamaru and Choji outside. Her body screamed for rest and her head felt worse with every step she took.

As soon as she saw Shikamaru sit down, she sat not far away against a tree and ate as quickly as her body would let her, hoping to get some energy to help her for the rest of the day.

She looked at Choji as he moved her crutches that she threw haphazardly on the ground and thanked him with a mouth full of food. She neither had the energy to swallow her food nor the energy to feel embarrassed that her mouth was full. As soon as she finished eating, she laid down on the ground next to Shikamaru who was already busy gazing at the clouds.

She woke up to Ino shaking her awake. Sakura felt like she had just fallen asleep but the bell in the background told her it was time for class.

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?" Ino asked quietly concerned.

"I'm just really tired. I'm more tired than Shikamaru." Sakura said sleepily.

She heard Ino, Choji and even Shikamaru laugh as she rubbed her eyes and stretched. She looked up and saw Ino holding out her hand to help her up and Choji holding her crutches for her. She accepted both of their help and slowly walked with them, finally understanding how amazing it was to have friends.

* * *

Sakura dreaded the walk home. She was still tired despite having slept the majority of the day but she pushed on and took her time getting home. Stopping at any point on her walk was not something she dared do because it would delay her self-made appointment with her bed. Even keeping her eyes open required a lot of energy.

When she rounded the last corner and saw her house in sight, it felt like her energy disappeared and she stopped to half-sit half-collapse on the grass several houses away. The urge to sleep was too great and she felt her eyes shut as she gave in to her body's desires.

Sakura woke up later that evening and immediately noticed Shisui was sitting beside her on her bed. He did not look happy. She was thankful that he had helped her finish her never ending journey; she was expecting to wake up outside, actually. The more she saw him, the more she realized just how caring of a person he was and she felt like the luckiest person alive to have the chance to be around him.

"You kept your clone for too long, Princess, you're close to chakra exhaustion." Shisui chided.

Sakura hated being told she had done something wrong, and if it came from Shisui then she knew she really messed up. He was always the most supportive and understanding person in her life.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise." She said while fidgeting with the blanket in her lap.

She stopped when Shisui's hand rested on top of her head and he gave her such a genuine smile that she couldn't look away.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you. I don't know what I would do if it did." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Sakura couldn't stop the few tears from dampening Shisui's shirt as she wrapped her arms around him as best she could. She didn't want to worry Shisui, it broke her heart just seeing his saddened expression.

"I'll make you some special food that will help you. You're not at the point where you need to go to the hospital but you're close. Do you remember what your chakra felt like before you dispelled your clone?"

"My chakra felt a bit weird for an hour before I dispelled her. I guess I shouldn't have waited that extra hour?" She hesitantly answered him, hoping she hadn't screwed up too badly.

"As soon as it feels weird, dispel your clone. The weird feeling is the start of chakra exhaustion and there is a general consensus among shinobi that there are three unwritten stages. Stage 1 is when you have enough chakra to move around and get to your destination to rest up. It's advisable that you limit your chakra use as best as possible at this point. Stage 2 is when you can barely stay awake and have a hard time moving around. It usually takes a few days to get out of that stage and lots of sleep. You have to stop using any and all chakra if you don't want to get to Stage 3. Stage 3 is when you're in a critical state. Sometimes you get lucky and are only in a coma for a few days, sometimes you're in a coma for weeks and even months. In the worst case you can die."

Sakura had never realized she could die from using too much chakra and the fact that she didn't have much chakra to begin with worried her. She stared wide-eyed at Shisui's back while he walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

* * *

The spar was just as amazing as the first time she had seen them fight. Sakura couldn't keep track of all their movements but it didn't bother her in the slightest, she liked to imagine that one day she would be just as fast and amazing. With all the fireballs they threw at each other, it was a miracle that the training grounds weren't burnt to a crisp yet.

Midway through the spar she felt Akio walking towards her. She greeted him with her biggest smile but it dropped when she got a good look at him. He seemed gaunt and once he sat down, she noticed his right hand was constantly shaking. It looked like he had gone to hell and back, fighting every demon along the way. Sakura was curious to know what was happening but her parents had taught her better than to blurt things out so she moved closer to him and rested her head on his arm.

"I missed you, Akio."

She didn't look at him, just kept watching Shisui and Itachi even when she felt a trembling hand rest on top of her head. Her heart clenched at Akio's frailty.

"Have you practiced what I taught you?" He asked quietly. Sakura listened to the slight rasp he had developed in his voice and assumed it was because of all the coughing.

"I'm getting better at it, I can walk on my leg for a few minutes now. I think it'll be awhile before I can run through the trees with Shisui but that's fine, I have 6 years until I become a genin."

"You'll be an amazing shinobi, I just wish I…" Akio trailed off and Sakura tried to finish his sentence in her head.

None of the possibilities sounded remotely optimistic. She hugged Akio as best she could and tried to not think of his unfinished sentence.

"Do all spars look like this?" She asked. Akio chuckled softly until he began coughing.

"No, those two are leagues above your regular shinobi. Normal spars are much slower."

Sakura continued chatting with Akio and never broke free from her hug. Even after Shisui and Itachi had finished their spar and joined them, she stayed glued to him.

"Sakura-chan, did you want to practice making a shadow clone?" Itachi asked her kindly.

She quickly looked at the ground and shook her head. She wasn't ready to risk dying from chakra exhaustion. It had taken her three days to recover from her mild case of chakra exhaustion and it had scared her.

"We'll help monitor your chakra to make sure nothing happens." Itachi reassured her.

Sakura slowly looked up at both Shisui and Itachi but still hesitated.

"With enough practice you'll be able to keep your clone for longer periods of time. It's difficult now because you have low chakra." Shisui explained.

She eventually relented and put her hands together to create her clone. She took a few seconds to concentrate then channeled chakra and created her almost exact copy. Sakura found it odd that there was someone - or something - that looked exactly like her.

Her eyes narrowed as soon as her clone stood up and walked around. She was slowly coming to the realization that she was jealous of her clone - it was taunting her, almost mocking her.

"Your clone can walk freely without crutches?" Akio asked, twisting the metaphorical knife in her heart.

"Yes." Sakura replied flatly, gritting her teeth and ignored the way Shisui turned to look at her.

The more she looked at her clone the angrier she became. She could feel her jealousy growing along with her hatred and there wasn't a single thing she could do to stop it.

"Princess, what's wrong?"

Sakura blinked and looked up at Shisui with blurred vision. She dried her eyes and unclenched her teeth - she hadn't noticed that her jaw had started to hurt due to the pressure she was applying with her teeth.

"Nothing." She said, turning her head to the side so she wouldn't be able to see her clone walking around.

"Can I run my chakra through your leg while you make the chakra bone?" Akio asked and Sakura was thankful - he was definitely her favorite person at the moment. She quickly dispelled her clone and turned towards Akio with a smile on her face.

Once Akio placed his hand on her leg, she began to channel chakra and shaped the chakra bone. It required a lot of concentration to maintain the bone shape and she was only able to do it for a short period of time but it was something she desperately wanted to improve. This was the only way she would ever be able to walk and run like every other child her age, and maybe then it wouldn't pain her to see her clone walk normally.

"You're doing great and with more practice, your chakra won't waver when you lose concentration. Ideally this will become second nature and you won't have to worry about focusing so much."

Shisui was at Akio's side immediately when the man started coughing violently. Sakura looked on and wished she could help him but froze when she noticed he was coughing up blood.

"He has to go to the hospital." She exclaimed.

"It's alright, it'll pass soon enough." Shisui tried to reassure her.

"No! There's blood." She yelled at Shisui's back. Why Shisui was acting like it wasn't a big deal was beyond her, he had always seemed so caring of others.

Shisui still didn't look fazed, he was just resting his hand on Akio's back while Sakura panicked. It took Itachi's soothing voice to reassure her that it was fine.

"This happened before and the doctors said that there was nothing to be done." Itachi explained.

"What? But they're doctors, they're supposed to take the pain away and Akio's hurting." Sakura tried to understand what Itachi was saying and why doctors would be so cruel.

"This is Akio's choice. He doesn't want to spend all his time in the hospital. Believe me Princess, the first time it happened I brought him to the hospital immediately." Shisui turned to look at her with such a pained expression she felt bad for even thinking Shisui didn't care for one second.

Sakura clenched her hands that were resting on her stretched-out legs in front of her - she couldn't bend her shattered leg so she always sat with her legs stretched out. She tried her best to stop her tears but just hearing Akio cough made her angry at the doctors and her tears just wouldn't stop.

Akio stopped coughing and Sakura watched as he ran a shaky hand over his chest. He seemed to relax afterwards for a few seconds but then he started shivering. She sometimes shivered after sneezing, for some reason it was as if a cold current passed through her but she had never shivered after coughing.

It didn't make sense to her. Akio saved her a few months ago, he was part of ANBU which meant he was strong but now he seemed so weak. How could someone so strong become weak so quickly. Sakura knew he was older than Shisui but younger than her parents which she figured meant he had a long career ahead of him since the Hokage was ancient.

"Sakura-chan, do you want me to walk you home?" Itachi asked, holding out his hand.

Sakura looked around and realized that she had been lost in her thoughts. Akio was standing with one arm draped over Shisui, looking too weak to move on his own.

"Shisui is bringing Akio home. I can walk you home if you'd like."

"No." Sakura decided. She stood up on her own and walked over to Akio. She looked up at him, gave him her biggest smile and held his hand. "I'll walk Akio home too."

* * *

"And how do you know Akio?"

Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts when Akio's mother asked her a question. She was busy looking at Shisui helping Akio lay down and admiring Akio's parents' home. It was very welcoming and it made her want to relax. It felt like a proper family home.

"He saved me." Sakura replied quietly and watched as both of Akio's parents smiled. They looked so proud of their son and Sakura wished she could make her own parents proud.

"You're a sweet girl, Sakura-chan. You remind us of our daughter, and I'm assuming you remind Akio of his sister. He's seemed happier and less burdened for the past few months and I'd bet this house that you're the reason." Akio's mother said.

His mother had the same name as her own mother and the two couldn't be more different. She was incredibly supportive of Akio's choice to become a shinobi and she had also never travelled outside of Fire Country. In fact, she had never travelled more than three hours away from Konoha her entire life. Even in appearance the two were very different; her own mother had a stern face and looked older than she was and Akio's mother had a very kind face paired with white hair that she's had since she was seventeen yet managed to look youthful.

Though Sakura really felt at home, she couldn't wait for her mother and cousin to arrive. They were already late and each day made Sakura a bit more paranoid that something had happened to them.

She also didn't like to see Akio suffer and his coughing fits were becoming more frequent. Sometimes the sounds he made gave her flashbacks to her aunt and uncle breathing their last few ragged breaths but she tried ignore those as much as possible. She wished she would have just gotten Itachi to walk her home.

"Are you ready to go, Princess?" Her knight in shining armour came to her rescue once again.

She waited until they had walked a block away from Akio's house before she stopped and looked up at the two Uchiha.

"Akio doesn't seem to be doing very well." She said softly.

"He's a fighter, he's trying his very best to beat whatever he has." Shisui told her but she felt that he wasn't telling her the entire truth. Sakura had started thinking of the worst thing that could happen in every scenario since her brush with death.

"What if he dies?" She asked bluntly.

Shisui's face relaxed and he crouched down to her level. He motioned for her to get closer to him which she did. He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

"I choose to be positive in life. I like to believe that Akio will survive. In the event he doesn't, I'll be sad but at least I wouldn't have spent the last few weeks or months worrying about it. I want to try to spend as much time with him as possible to distract him from everything going on in his life. I want to have as many happy memories of him as possible so when I remember him, I remember the best parts."

Sakura looked up to Shisui and because of this she decided to try to follow his ideals. She made a mental note to try to think positive thoughts and that Akio would get through it but something in the back of her mind told her that she was just lying to herself and not dealing with the reality of the situation. She spent the rest of the walk home arguing with herself whether she should do like Shisui and hope everything worked out or if she should imagine all the different possible scenarios and prepare herself for the worst to happen.


	16. Chapter 16

She woke up screaming and crying, breathing frantically. It had been some time since she had gotten a nightmare and it came back with a vengeance. She saw her aunt and uncle get killed but this time, her family and Shisui had also been killed while she had been forced to watch it all unfold before her very eyes.

She was alone in the house, seeing as her family hadn't arrived from Suna - they were eight days late and counting - and Shisui had just left earlier that day for a three-day mission with Itachi. She started to think that Shisui was the one keeping the nightmares at bay since she was never plagued by them when he was there.

Sakura rarely felt safe after her nightmares and this time was no different. She grabbed her blankets and Wolfie and went to hide in her closet. She tried her best to get comfortable but she knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She made sure to cover herself and hide in the blankets - this way if the tentacle monster or his partner opened her closet, they would only see a pile of blankets. She held onto Wolfie tightly and tried to calm down. Sakura didn't dare open her eyes in case the closet door would open and they would see some light reflecting from her eyes.

The darkness terrified her when she was alone but she also didn't want to be out in the open with the lights on. It was a difficult decision but she would rather hide in the darkness and hope they wouldn't find her.

Every creak the house made put Sakura even more on edge until she realized she wasn't hiding her chakra. She focused on her chakra and tried to make it as small as possible. Her aunt had taught her to picture her chakra as a shape - Sakura liked to think of it as a sphere - and then mentally place a blanket over it to reduce it.

She spent the next few hours practicing hiding her chakra until she saw sunlight peak in from under her closet door. Sakura quickly switched from chakra hiding mode to chakra sensing mode to make sure no one had snuck into the house. She couldn't sense anyone and made the executive decision to get out of the closet after she had counted to 10.

Taking deep breaths, she counted to 10 then opened her eyes and jumped out of the closet. She was temporarily blinded by the bright light coming in through the window but quickly regained her senses. Her heartbeat was slowing down finally, after a few hours of being on edge inside the closet.

Sakura was excited for class; as it was the first time both her and Ino's classes would be together in the same classroom and she was excited to sit with her. She hurried to get dressed and ate breakfast quickly to make sure she could reserve the best seat for her best friend.

* * *

She wanted to be the first one in class to pick the seat Ino would prefer. She typically sat with Shikamaru and Choji at the back of the room but the tables only had three chairs each so in order to sit with Ino she would have to find a new table. Sakura paid no mind to the kids that were arriving at school as she tried to pick the ideal seat. She finally settled on the table in front and to the right of Shikamaru and Choji - she remembered Ino saying she never wanted to sit too close to Shikamaru and Choji because of their snoring and eating.

Sakura sat down and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt nervously until she saw Ino walk through the door. She radiated with confidence and Sakura only hoped to one day have half as much confidence as Ino when entering a room.

Sakura watched as Ino greeted the majority of the kids with the exception of several kids including Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji and a kid wearing a trench coat and sunglasses. She had never seen that boy before and assumed he was in Ino's class.

Ino's eyes lit up when she spotted Sakura and the latter nervously waved at her friend. Ino elegantly sat down beside Sakura and started talking about her walk to school with her father until she suddenly stopped. Ino's eyes followed a kid with black hair who went to the corner to sit alone. Sakura had never seen Ino so focused on someone before which meant that the boy must be pretty important to her friend.

She didn't pay attention to the black-haired boy, she was more interested in observing Ino's reactions. She had never seen Ino so quiet before and it looked like she was in a constant daydream

"Ino-chan?" Sakura asked.

Ino didn't respond, which only worried Sakura even more. She was debating asking Iruka-sensei if she could bring Ino to the nurse when someone spoke to her.

"She won't hear you for a few minutes." Shikamaru drawled out from his seat.

Sakura was about to ask Shikamaru how he knew that but Iruka-sensei welcomed everyone from the other class and started explaining where chakra originated from.

* * *

It was strange but Sakura couldn't get over the fact that Ino was a completely different person when the black-haired boy was around. She learned that his name was Sasuke and, according to Ino, he was the coolest and best-looking boy in their grade.

Sakura's aunt had told her about her own childhood crush and how most girls think they fall in love with a cute boy when they're younger only to realize it was just a senseless infatuation. Of course, there are some girls who actually do fall in love with someone at first sight but Sakura only thought of making friends at this point in her life.

Sakura spent most of the day just looking at Ino and the other girls in class that had their eyes glued to Sasuke, whether it was during class or when they were outside for recess or lunch.

When classes were finished both girls stood outside the academy doors and waited for Ino's father to arrive. After Ino's fourth sigh Sakura hoped she would be able to talk to the normal Ino and not the lovestruck Ino seeing as Sasuke had just left with his mother.

"Do you think we'll have more classes together this year?"

Ino looked at Sakura and blinked a few times before responding.

"I think so, my teacher seemed pretty sick at the end of the day yesterday, he probably has the flu that my Daddy said was going around the village. I heard him and my Mom talking about it and they said that some people have been in the hospital for two whole weeks."

Sakura was tired of hearing about people who were sick or anything to do with hospitals. Lately it seemed that every few weeks she knew someone who had to go to the hospital and no one had actually been healed completely. She wished the doctors would get better so they could make all the sick people feel better. Hell, she wished they could actually figure out what was wrong with Akio.

She hoped he was feeling better and would be able to go on missions again. She knew he enjoyed them and she hated the fact that he wasn't able to join Shisui and Itachi on theirs. They had told her that someone who knew some medical ninjutsu and was able to take care of themselves in a battle were in very high demand.

"Daddy, can Sakura-chan come over tonight?" Ino asked as she ran up to her father.

Sakura snapped her head up to her friend and tried to recall when they had discussed doing something after school but couldn't remember for the life of her. She scrunched her brow in confusion and really concentrated on her conversations with Ino that day but all she could remember was Ino talking to other girls about Sasuke and complaining that she had to be around Shikamaru and Choji at the Ino-Shika-Cho gatherings seeing as she would much rather it be Sasuke.

"Not tonight sweetheart, we have to go visit some family." Inoichi told Ino after having looked at Sakura.

Sakura had gotten used to looking at Ino's pupiless eyes but found that Inoichi's eyes seemed to explore her very being, it was as if he was aware of all her secrets and thoughts with just a glance. She couldn't keep eye contact with Ino's father for very long, the longest she had been able to endure was 2 seconds.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, I was hoping we could go to the park after dinner tonight." Ino told Sakura dejectedly.

"That's alright Ino, I want to be there when my family arrives home."

"I'm sure we can walk you home, right Daddy?"

Sakura looked up at the father-daughter duo and saw the man nod at her with a smile. He was so caring and nice that it reminded her of her own father which was part of the reason why she didn't want to go over to Ino's house.

She usually cried when she was alone in her home and would prefer to not let anyone else know about that. Sakura didn't think anyone would be able to understand her loss; she had seen many of her mother's friends try to sympathize and say they understood how she felt seeing that her husband had died when their own families were alive and whole. It always felt like empty words that irked Sakura, though they were meant to be comforting.

Sakura wiped the tears that formed in her eyes before using her crutches to walk with Ino. She wished she could be as carefree as her friend and still have both of her parents - she never got the chance to be picked up by her father after school which was something she had looked forward to since she first wanted to go to the academy.

The walk home was spent mostly listening to Ino talk to her father about Sasuke. Sakura looked at her surroundings and waved to the shopkeepers she knew. There was the old woman that she bought all her fresh vegetables from, the young man that once helped her stand up after she had fallen from her crutches and the old man that always saved the ripest oranges for her.

Halfway through the market Sakura noticed a dog looking at her. The dog wore a shinobi headband and looked familiar but she couldn't remember why. As she walked closer to the dog, she thought she saw him smile but a split second later he quickly ran away.

When they finally reached her house, she said her goodbyes to the Yamanakas and almost ran inside the house to see if her mother and Takeshi had arrived. Despite the fact that their shoes weren't at the entrance, Sakura walked as quickly as she could throughout the house to see if anyone was home. Her house was just as empty and lonely as she left it that morning before going to class and she couldn't help but let a few tears escape.

She gathered up her big book of chakra and a few snacks and decided to wait for both Shisui and her family at the front gates. Sakura tried to avoid being alone in her house as much as possible, it was too much for her to bear. The loneliness ate away at her heart and her imagination always got the best of her.

Shaking her head from her thoughts, she quickly made her way out the door and started her trek to the main gates. She had gotten used to the twenty-minute walk to the gates and actually enjoyed it; most houses had luscious green grass in the front lawn. The civilian district actually extended right next to the main gates and Akio's parents lived in the house closest to the gates.

There were two different paths from the front gate to her house and Sakura took the path that her family always chose; the one with the strange abstract metal statue. Her father had told her that the artist who created the 'masterpiece' created it as an insult to the Hokage's wife though he never told her which Hokage. Judging by the rust on the metal, Sakura had assumed that the statue was very old so it had to be the first Hokage's wife seeing as no one believed that the second Hokage had a wife and the fourth Hokage didn't reign for very long. Her father had just shrugged and told her that she may or may not be correct.

Sakura noticed that Akio's parents' house was just ahead and she slowed down on the dirt path to hopefully catch a glimpse of Akio. She hoped he was feeling better.

As she got closer to the house, she noticed that someone was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table. She squinted her eyes to try to see who it was and she saw Akio's mother making some soup at the counter. The figure in the chair seemed to be convulsing until she realized it was Akio coughing.

Sakura turned away, regretting her decision to look into the house because seeing him in such a state only served to remind her that he might die one day. She mentally scolded herself and tried to think positive thoughts just like Shisui would do. She repeated to herself that Akio would be fine and he would be able to run through the trees with her. Not having convinced herself, she looked up at the main gates and saw that two people were signing in so she started running towards them, anything to get her mind off her friend.

* * *

There was something about having bugs living inside someone's body that fascinated Kotetsu. He knew he had been caught staring at yet another Aburame when Izumo elbowed him in the arm. He smiled sheepishly as the Aburame and Hyuga signed in.

As the pair walked away, Kotetsu sat back down and stretched out all his muscles; today had been a very boring day and he longed to run around. Their shift was almost done, he only had two hours left yet he knew it would feel like an eternity without an outside distraction.

He looked over at Izumo who was just as bored as he was - they had spent at least two hours styling their hair to imitate their friends and having the other guess the identity - it was just one of those days where neither of them could stay occupied for long.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl with pink hair running towards the gates. He had expected her to show up to start waiting for Shisui. He watched on as she held her crutches while running which baffled him; why would she use crutches when her leg was clearly not broken. Maybe she was one of those kids who wanted others to feel sorry for her and coddle her.

When he saw her sit down on the bench across the entrance and undo the wraps around her leg, he noticed the purple bruising on her skin. If he was being honest with himself there was more purple on her shin than any other colour and her winces when she began applying the wraps proved that it was very painful.

It didn't look like she was trying to attract attention to herself to get others to coddle her but he didn't let that fool him. He told himself that he would watch her to figure out why she could run and also had to use crutches.

He sat there and watched her read a massive book until he grew bored and tried to think of a new distraction. He looked to the side to noticed that Izumo had also pulled out a book to read - Izumo always got lost in his own world when he reads so he knew he could no longer rely on his friend for a distraction. Kotetsu's only option was to bother the kid.

He picked up a few stones and waited until no one else was at the entrance to throw one onto the bench just beside the girl. When she didn't look up from her book, he threw another one at the same spot.

Kotetsu watched as the kid looked at the bench then slowly lifted her head to look around the entrance. After not seeing anything of note she simply settled more comfortably and went back to her book. He made a mental bet that she would only notice it was him after three more stones.

He prepared the stone and readied his shot. As soon as he threw it he saw her peer up from her book and look directly at him. He was proud of himself for not outwardly showing his surprise as he realized that he had been fooled by this little kid so he did the best thing he could think of and gave her a smug little smile, hoping to rile her up. He saw her limbs twitch and he knew she was holding herself back from coming to see him and he watched her resolve crumble just a little bit each second, however they remained in a staring contest.

She was proving to be quite a resilient child and Kotetsu knew he would have won if Izumo hadn't thrown a book in his face and he was tempted to tackle his friend to the ground until he heard laughter. He looked at the girl and what he saw made him smile; she was laughing in such a carefree manner that he forgot her aunt and uncle had died not too long ago. He made sure to try his best to make her laugh like this again if he ever got the chance.

The girl stood up from the bench and walked over to them - using her crutches this time, he noted. She crossed the wide entrance and stood at the sign in desk to glare at him with a smile.

"Good afternoon Pinky, waiting for Shisui again today?" Kotetsu asked her knowingly.

He saw her eye twitch and that was victory enough for him, both because he knew who she was waiting for and the nickname was not a very good one.

"Actually, I'm waiting for my mother and cousin to come home." She stated nonchalantly and looked at his narrowed eyes. Kotetsu wanted to believe that was a lie but it would make sense.

"What book are you reading? It's almost bigger than you." he exclaimed

"It's a book about chakra control. It was a birthday present from my aunt." She said with a strained smile.

He didn't quite know what to say to that statement, he never had to console anyone before thankfully, especially not a child. He racked his brain to think of things he would want to hear and found the perfect thing: honesty.

"She was a lovely woman. Both Hiroki and Natsuko helped us out when we first became chunin."

At this, the girl looked up at him with a big smile and tears in her eyes which only make him want to kick himself in the ass for making her cry yet he also wanted to pat himself on the back for making her smile.

"She was pretty amazing. She taught me how to sense chakra when I was four years old. She was also super fast since the Hokage had her deliver things outside Konoha. I want to be as strong as her when I grow up, maybe even stronger!"

The more the girl spoke of her aunt, the more her tears fell but the happier she seemed. Kotetsu looked at Izumo - who clearly had a soft spot for children seeing as he looked ready to adopt her and take care of her - and couldn't help but keep telling the girl about her aunt and uncle. He even started telling her stories of the few times they had the chance of going on missions with either one.

Kotetsu was so engrossed in his story telling that he didn't notice when his replacements arrived. Time had flown by and he was happy to have found a distraction in this girl - whom he had yet to learn her name somehow.

The two shinobi escorted her home and didn't interrupt her at all. She was telling them a story about poison training and how her uncle had played a prank on some unsuspecting shinobi and exposed them to itching powder. It turned out that the poison training was also a way for the Torture and Investigation division to relieve some stress.

When they arrived at her home, she didn't make any movement to go inside, instead she turned towards them and simply looked at them. She took a few deep breaths before speaking.

"Thank you for walking me home, but I'm not going inside yet. I have somewhere else I want to go. It was nice to meet you…" She trailed off. It seemed that she also realized that she never learned their names.

"I'm Izumo and this is Kotetsu. I don't believe we got your name either." Izumo said shamefully.

"I'm Sakura, it's easy to remember my name because of my hair." She said proudly before bowing to them quickly then walking passed them.

They both shared a look and decided to follow her from a distance since they were both more than a bit curious as to her reluctance to be home and where she would rather be.

She walked with her crutches at a pretty fast pace, seemingly determined to get to her destination quickly. She finally slowed down when she entered the cemetery and both Izumo and Kotetsu stopped in their tracks.

"Maybe it's best we leave her alone." Izumo whispered.

Kotetsu stood and watched her navigate her way through the cemetery as if it was her second home. She stopped at a tombstone and laid down her crutches ever so gently before sitting down.

"Yeah, we should go." Kotetsu agreed, he felt awkward looking at Sakura paying her respects to who he assumed were her aunt and uncle - he wasn't aware that her father had died just recently.

As he and Izumo walked towards their shared apartment, Kotetsu reflected on his idea that Sakura used her crutches to get attention. He wanted to believe that she wasn't that kind of kid but he couldn't rule it out until he found out more about her. He was a cautious man and unlike Izumo, he believed that everyone was guilty until proven innocent.

* * *

Sakura found herself staring at Ino again the next day at school. Like Ino suggested, both classes were merged again and just like the previous day, Ino was acting completely different when Sasuke was there. Sakura realized that she could have sat with Shikamaru and Choji and Ino probably wouldn't even notice which is what she did in the afternoon. Sakura waited until Sasuke walked into the classroom then went to sit with her two other friends.

She couldn't help but notice Shikamaru's quiet laughter when she sat down beside him. His devious smile was enough to tell her that he approved of her tactic - she had heard Choji complaining about the girl that sat with them that morning and how she wouldn't shut up.

Sakura watched as the class filled up and noticed that the white eyed girl was one of the last to enter. The girl sat beside Ino and Sakura was glad because if someone broke Ino out of her daydream, her best friend would notice that she had switched seats.

It seemed that the shy, white eyed girl wasn't infatuated with Sasuke which was a nice change. Sakura admitted that Sasuke was cute but so were a lot of other boys in her class. She assumed she didn't understand his appeal since she had never spoken to Sasuke and wasn't in his class - little did she know that the other girls had also never spoken to him.

The last person to walk - or run, rather - into the classroom was Naruto. She saw Iruka-sensei's eye twitching and brow furrowing as he looked at Naruto. Just as he was about to yell at the boy, Naruto ran to take his seat and gave their teacher the brightest yet guiltiest smile she had ever seen. She couldn't even begin to imagine what mischief he had been up to during their break.

It seemed Naruto was full of energy that afternoon because he kept on shouting the wrong answers every time Iruka-sensei asked a question. Each time Naruto spoke in class, the majority of the class simply ignored him while several kids would groan and tell him to shut up or call him an idiot. Sakura spotted Shikamaru's shoulders shaking from time to time to indicate that he wasn't sleeping, but laughing.

She scanned the classroom and her eyes widened when she saw Ino glaring at her. Sakura felt a pang of guilt for ditching her friend but at the same time, she was happy that she sat with Shikamaru and Choji. She didn't see the need to sit beside Ino if Ino was staring at Sasuke the entire day.

Ino huffed and turned to Iruka-sensei and seemed to actually start paying attention to what was being taught. Sakura noticed Ino had to ask the quiet girl where they were so she could follow along in her textbook.

"She'll be mad at you after school for ditching her, specially for us." Shikamaru stated.

It seemed that Shikamaru always noticed everything that was happening in class while he slept which led Sakura to believe that he wasn't actually sleeping.

Sakura dredded the dismissal bell and tried to think of a way to avoid Ino. Maybe she could walk with Shikamaru or Choji? Ino wouldn't be shy to be angry near them so that was pointless. She thought of somehow being near Sasuke since she assumed Ino wouldn't want to yell near him but she didn't even know what to say to him and it would be awkward to follow him. Sakura spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of ways to avoid Ino just to realize that avoiding her best friend would only make things worse.

* * *

"Sakura!"

The fact that Ino never called her just Sakura made her freeze in her tracks. She slowly turned around to face her best friend and waved awkwardly.

"Why did you ditch me for Shikamaru and Choji in class?" Ino was angry.

Sakura had only seen Ino angry at the park to fend off the bullies and was glad that that anger had never been directed towards herself. She didn't think a lie would cut it so she kept quiet.

"I asked you a question Sa-ku-ra." Ino said when Sakura wasn't answering.

Sakura played with the hem of her shirt and couldn't bring herself to look at Ino. She had never been reprimanded before and she didn't like it. It made her feel inadequate and like a failure.

"You can tell me the truth." Ino said softly.

Sakura looked up at Ino and saw the sincerity in her eyes. It gave her confidence to speak up.

"You were staring at Sasuke the entire time and being weird, I didn't think you cared who sat beside you since you were distracted." Sakura said quietly.

"I didn't notice that I was paying that much attention to him. I'll make you a deal; I'll try to not pay attention to him as much in class if you promise to always tell me the truth. And you can nudge me if I look at Sasuke-kun too much."

It seemed like a good deal to Sakura so she nodded. She had been scared that Ino wouldn't want to be her friend anymore and was happy that things turned out better than expected.

Ino smiled and turned when her mother called out her name. With a sigh Ino said her goodbyes and ran to her mother. Sakura knew by now that usually when Ino's mother came to get her from school was because her father was busy either being a shinobi or working at the flower shop.

After checking her house to confirm that her family hadn't arrived, Sakura walked the same path she did the previous day towards the gates. She passed by Akio's parents' house again and instead of looking through the window from the street, she decided to extend her senses. She felt bad but she didn't think she could handle seeing Akio so frail.

She concentrated and felt for any chakra signatures inside the house. The only thing she felt was a signature weak enough to be a mouse but it was fluctuating. She concentrated to focus more on the mouse's signature and realized it was fading in and out but at times it would spike to a normal civilian level.

Suddenly the chakra signature faded to a level that was almost imperceptible and Sakura threw down her crutches and ran. She ran to the window and looked in, trying desperately to see something but the curtains were drawn and she wasn't quite tall enough to see over the furniture in front of the window.

She was panicking and hyperventilating and trying to think of a way to get inside the house. Fast. All she could think of was breaking the window so she ran to the road and picked up the biggest rock she could find. She didn't know if it would work but she threw the rock into the window and watched as it shattered. She climbed through the window and saw Akio motionless on the ground. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want him to die.

She jumped out the window and landed on her shattered leg. The pain was horrible but she just channeled more chakra and ignored the pain; she was Akio's only hope. She ran towards the gates and called to Kotetsu and Izumo, hoping they were working. She saw Kotetsu peak over the sign-in desk and he immediately jumped over it and ran towards her.

Sakura couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't stop crying so she grabbed his hand and ran towards the house once more. She let go of his hand just before jumping through the window.

"Help him. Please!"

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Just a quick note: I am mostly done introducing characters to Sakura as a child, so hopefully in about 5 chapters I'll be able to do a short timeskip!**

 **I'm trying my best to not have plot holes (or not have many since I think every story has plot holes).**

 **Let me know which characters you would like to see more of and what you think of Kotetsu and Izumo, they're fun to write!**

 **I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years, or just overall some time off to relax!**

 **Thank you everyone for the reviews, it really motivates me to write more and they make me so happy!**


	17. Chapter 17

**It's been a while since the last update but here it is!**

 **All I can say is that I am really enjoying writing this story and fleshing out the characters and events that are happening and will happen.**

 **I want to try my hardest to get the next chapter out in the next few weeks. Ideally I would love a steady schedule for posting my chapters but it doesn't seem quite possible at the moment.**

 **Again, I love to hear from everyone and your thoughts on what has happened/will happen.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

He sat by her bedside and listened to her heartbeat. Her face was pale and he was partly angry at _her_ for being so stupid but partly at _himself_ for showing her where Akio lived. He felt at fault for her stupidity. His brain told him to yell at her when she woke up but his heart just pleaded for her to wake up.

He had arrived at the village just ten minutes after Kotetsu had carried both Akio and Sakura to the hospital. He assumed that Akio had taken a turn for the worst and needed to be hospitalized but he had no idea what had happened to Sakura to warrant going to the hospital.

As soon as he had seen her pale figure, and felt her barely-there chakra he knew what was wrong. Chakra exhaustion. It was ridiculous for her to suffer from it twice in such a short time - there was no good reason for her to have been so foolish.

Shisui just sat there, thinking about everything and anything - Sakura, the clan, Akio, Itachi - when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Shisui said quietly.

He turned to see Kotetsu and Izumo slowly walk through the door, both looking worried.

"Chakra exhaustion, she should be fine." Shisui summarized. It seemed that Sakura had managed to reach the second stage of chakra exhaustion once again. At least it was better than Stage 3.

"What do you mean chakra exhaustion? She didn't use any chakra." Izumo asked.

"Yeah, we only saw her run to get us then back to the house. She passed out after jumping through the already broken window and pointing out Akio-san to me. I didn't see her use any chakra whatsoever." Kotetsu recounted.

Shisui thought for a few seconds, trying to think of ways for her to have used up too much chakra. It's possible that she had a shadow clone around the village or back at her house and dispelled it too late but Shisui was certain that she had learned her lesson the first time and to dispel it as soon as her chakra felt weird. She didn't know how to use chakra any other way except…

"Wait. Did you say she ran from the house to the gates and back? Was she using her crutches?" Shisui asked. If she wasn't using her crutches then he had a theory of what happened.

"No, it's weird, sometimes she uses the crutches to walk, then she doesn't, then she uses them again and suddenly she runs without them? What the hell is she up to?" Kotetsu blurted and Shisui couldn't help but chuckle. If he put himself in someone else's shoes, he would probably be just as confused about Sakura. However, it wasn't his place to divulge Sakura's secret so he only gave the most basic information.

"Well, she hurt her leg and needs crutches but she hates using them. She uses chakra to be able to walk on her leg. I'm pretty sure that run used up all her chakra." Shisui concluded with a fond smile.

"What do you mean she uses chakra to walk on her leg. How did she learn to do that?" Izumo questioned.

"Akio actually taught her that. She's really good with chakra." Shisui answered.

Their conversation halted when Sakura stirred awake. She looked stiff which was understandable after using up all your chakra.

"Good morning Princess."

"Shisui?" Sakura mumbled then sat up straight instantly. With a cry of pain, she fell back down. "Is Akio alright?"

Shisui sighed, he was impatiently waiting to hear from the nurse to know when Akio would be out of surgery. There was a reason he didn't get close to others, and this only served as a reminder of what could happen if he did.

He questioned his relationship with Sakura and if it would be better for him to distance himself, but at least with Sakura, she should be safe for another six years until she became genin, then another several years until becoming chunin and maybe eventually a jonin. Statistically speaking, Shisui should be killed in combat before Sakura ever became a chunin so he figured it was a safe relationship. Plus, he didn't think he could stop being around her even if he tried, she had somehow become part of his family despite him only knowing her for a few months

"Don't worry about Akio right now, just focus on yourself and getting better."

"Shisui, I almost couldn't sense his chakra! I thought he… I thought…" She trailed off in tears.

He put his arm around her and tried his best to comfort her. He didn't know what to say so he stayed quiet and put his other hand on her head. He was battling his own worries regarding Akio and knew if they spoke about him; his mask would crumble.

"He's still alive Pinky, he's just in surgery." Kotetsu said quietly.

"A nurse will tell us when he can have visitors." Izumo finished.

Shisui mentally punched himself in the head for not thinking to answer her question about Akio. It was the easiest thing for him to say that would have appeased her and made her feel better yet he didn't think to say anything. He always prided himself for being intelligent and strategic but it seemed he still had a lot of growing up to do emotionally.

"We're glad to see you're alright, Pinky, you gave me quite a scare earlier." Kotetsu said.

"Sorry." Sakura sniffled quietly.

The nurse chose that moment to inform the group that Akio had made it through the surgery and suggested that they go see him sooner rather than later. A feeling of dread washed over Shisui and he simply stared at the door that the nurse had entered from, frozen in place.

"Shisui?"

Shisui turned to look at Sakura and could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead and his neck. His breath felt laboured and all he could think to do was flee. He hated himself for it but he wished that Akio would have died while he was out of the village on a mission so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain of seeing him.

The room was too hot for him to breathe. He opened the window to let in some cooler air but the outside air was just as suffocating. He felt tears build up in his eyes but he resisted the urge to cry.

This scenario was just like when his mother had died: waiting in a room for the prognosis, only to arrive too late at the room. He remembered the guttural scream that escaped his throat when he had arrived just a few seconds too late to say goodbye to her.

He didn't want to stand up and walk down that hall. He wanted to leave the village and spend some time alone, he didn't want to be in the hospital, didn't want to attend the funeral and certainly didn't want to see Akio's parents yet.

Yet at the back of his mind, a voice sounding surprisingly like Fugaku reminded him that he was an Uchiha and he shouldn't show any weakness. Shinobi that were in ANBU had a better hold on themselves and didn't make fools of themselves.

Shisui's pride slowly took over his thoughts and he tried his best to quell his doubts and fears. He would be able to deal with them later that night at home, when he wasn't in such a public place.

"Shisui?" Sakura called out louder.

He snapped his attention to her again and tried to give her a reassuring smile but he knew it fell flat when she looked even more worried.

"Can we go see Akio?" She continued.

Shisui gulped nervously and slowly picked up Sakura before making his way down the hallway. He knew if he started running down the hall he wouldn't stop until he and Sakura were out of the village so he forced himself to take it one slow step at a time until he reached Akio's room.

* * *

She wished she had never gone to see Akio. She wished she had stayed in her own hospital room. Most of all she wished Shisui didn't have to see his friend like this.

She was now fixated on Akio, automatically memorizing his every expression. Even though she tried to turn away or close her eyes, she simply couldn't, her body simply refused.

Akio seemed so weak and pale and gaunt that he didn't resemble anything like the man that had saved her and healed her. He looked a century older, his hair had started falling out, he had big black bags under his eyes, his skin was dry and he couldn't stop shaking.

Sakura heard shuffling behind her and glanced back to see that Shisui had turned to the side, looking anywhere but where Akio was lying and suffering. She guessed that Shisui wanted to leave so she asked him if he could bring her back to her room. The relief that washed over Shisui's face helped Sakura understand that this was exactly what he needed.

She waited until they were out of Akio's room to speak.

"When can I get out of here?"

She waited until they arrived in her room and still had gotten no answer from Shisui. She didn't know what was wrong with him and it worried her. She continued to watch him even as he left her room without a word, just catching a glimpse of his dazed expression.

Did Shisui not want to go see Akio? Maybe he was mad at her for asking to go see Akio in the first place? Was he tired of being around her and having to carry her everywhere?

She wished she had more chakra so she wouldn't have gotten chakra exhaustion again, but if she could go back, she would do the same thing again and gladly accept the chakra exhaustion. Thankfully it felt like she had Stage 1 chakra exhaustion so she should be able to walk around with her crutches, albeit slowly, for the next week.

A doctor greeted her as he walked into her room, followed by Shisui. She held back her glee at seeing Shisui return in order to pay attention to the somewhat familiar doctor. She knew she had seen him before but couldn't remember from where.

"You just have a mild case of chakra exhaustion. We don't normally see that with kids, so we just wanted to make sure everything was alright. There's no reason to keep you here, you can go home." He said politely and wrote something on her chart before leaving.

"I can bring you home." Shisui said quietly without looking at her as he gathered her things. He looked outside and Sakura finally saw the worry and sadness etched into his features. She didn't know what to do or say since _she_ had always been the one that was hurt.

She thought of the things that helped her after all the deaths she'd suffered through during the last little while and one thing stood out. She struggled out of bed and managed to hop to Shisui without him noticing which was a testament to the fact that he was not himself.

She wrapped her arms around him as best as possible and felt Shisui startle at the contact. She really hoped that this would at least help him a little bit but really, she had no idea if it would.

"I don't know what to say, but at least I can do this." She said quietly sobbing.

She hated the fact that she was always crying. Anytime there was a situation that made her either angry or sad or worried or even very happy, she cried. Maybe that one bully that kept calling her a cry baby was right after all, hopefully she would be able to not let it affect her in the future, but she knew she would still end up crying.

Shisui knelt down and hugged her so fiercely she thought he was saying goodbye. Sure, he had hugged her before but it was a hug to show that he cared, but this time was different. It was as if he was holding on to her for dear life so she just tightened her arms around him as hard as possible.

One second, she was in the hospital, then next she was in her house with Shisui. Thankfully he was holding onto her tightly and keeping her steady because her world was spinning around. Thankfully she didn't get sick even though her stomach was in a world of turmoil.

She felt her back get wet and panicked that she had gotten hurt but her breath hitched as soon as she heard Shisui's quiet sobs. The two stayed in an embrace for a long time, not saying a word to each other just simply being there for one another.

* * *

He sat beside his brother at the dinner table and watched him ravage the tomatoes their mother had just put on his plate. His fondness for his brother grew every minute they were near. He loved Sasuke's carefree attitude, his adorable smile and just wanted him to have the best life one could get. It was one of the reasons he was so adamant to help Shisui stop the coup, no matter what would happen during the coup, Sasuke would be burdened with the aftermath. Itachi knew that whatever happened, he would always put his brother first and always look out for him.

"Itachi," His father said sternly, "after you're finished eating, go find Shisui and bring him to the clan meeting tonight."

Itachi was used to holding back his emotions so his father wasn't able to notice his surprise.

"My apologies Father, I didn't know there was a clan meeting tonight." Itachi stated.

"It's an impromptu meeting, it was decided earlier this afternoon. It begins in an hour."

Itachi could tell that was the extent of the conversation and that his father would not be very civil if he was probed for more information. He nodded his head and turned to see Sasuke try to steal his tomato from his plate. He knew he couldn't say no to his brother so he just smiled at Sasuke and gave him a light nod. The pure joy on his brother's face was well worth giving up tomatoes.

One of the few things Itachi looked forward to was eating with his family. If both his mother and brother were there, it was the single greatest part of any of his days.

His mother, Mikoto, was such a gentle soul, her family was her first priority and she made sure that they were loved, though she always toned down her motherly affection when the head of the house was around. Itachi couldn't remember a time when his father wasn't scowling, it must have been years at least. He hoped that his father wasn't as grim when he was with Mikoto.

When they finished eating, his mother insisted that he go find Shisui instead of helping her with the dishes; it seemed that the meeting was quite important and it wouldn't do well to make Fugaku wait. Itachi quickly gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before heading out the door towards Shisui's house.

Even though he couldn't sense Shisui's chakra at his cousin's home, Itachi still knocked on the door and waited a few minutes. When there was no answer, Itachi went straight to the hospital, assuming that Shisui would be there for Akio.

When he arrived at the hospital, he still couldn't sense Shisui but, then again, there were a lot of chakra signatures so it was hard to separate them all.

Itachi dreaded it but he made his way to the receptionist who sported a ridiculous blush and was trying to part her hair just perfectly. Her eyes widened comically as he approached and he tried his best to not sigh loudly in front of her, he wasn't trying to make her feel ridiculous after all, he just wanted a room number.

After all the squealing and blushing and stuttering, Itachi finally managed to get Akio's room number. Despite getting closer to the room, Itachi still couldn't sense Shisui and a slight pang of jealousy made its way to him; maybe Shisui had managed to hide his chakra enough that even the Uchiha prodigy couldn't sense it.

The only person in the room was Akio and Itachi managed to slip in and out of the room unnoticed. Though it did seem like Akio was sleeping, Itachi wasn't one to linger around those who were ill.

Itachi then made his way back to the receptionist and asked for Sakura's room number. It took awhile for the receptionist to stop being jealous that Itachi was visiting a girl, but he finally obtained the information.

He felt guilty that he wasn't able to visit Sakura with Shisui when they had arrived from their mission but his mother had asked him to come straight home to help plan the Uchiha get-together that they were to host in a few weeks. His heart raced as soon as Izumo had told him and Shisui that Sakura was in the hospital and he still didn't know what happened.

The fact that her room was empty when he arrived meant that she was well enough to be sent home.

He was about to leave when he noticed her crutches leaning against the wall next to the bed. Itachi sat down and focused to sense either Sakura's or Shisui's chakra in the hospital but still couldn't find them. He waited several minutes before he decided to grab the crutches and make his way to Sakura's home; as it was the only logical place left for her to be.

She didn't live very far from the hospital so Itachi arrived just a few minutes later. He could definitely sense both their chakra signatures inside the house and he let a sigh of relief. He was half tempted to find a window to enter from but figured it would be best to knock at the front door.

It took a few minutes for them to even budge from their position but eventually both of them opened the door for him.

Itachi's heart broke when he saw Shisui then rage started to build up. He felt the fire coursing through his veins and the only thing he could think of was to punish whoever had made his cousin cry. The first and only time he had seen Shisui this sad was when his parents had died and Itachi had promised to never let Shisui feel like that again. Itachi knew there was nothing he could have done but he still felt guilty for breaking that promise. He refused to meet Shisui's eyes, he didn't deserve to be forgiven by his cousin.

He steadied his breath and slowly looked up to Shisui's chest - it was the highest spot he allowed himself to raise his eyes - and blurted out what he had originally been instructed to tell Shisui.

"There's an impromptu clan meeting starting in half an hour. My father wanted me to come find you to let you know."

"I'm not going" Shisui stated quietly.

Those three simple words caused Itachi to look at Shisui and he knew instantly that Shisui was being serious. This was not a good course of action, Itachi knew Shisui wanted to distance himself from the clan politics but they had already decided it would be best to not raise any suspicion for the time being. They had already carefully crafted a plan that both he and Shisui would appear to be loyal to the clan until such a time Shisui was able to use his kotoamatsukami to stop the coup. They both knew that time was drawing near and that they couldn't afford to mess it up.

To an outsider it should have been fine for a member to miss a clan meeting every once in a while, but to the Uchiha, Shisui and Itachi were the only members who had a high enough position in Konoha to spy. They had both been tasked to report anything they heard in regards to the Uchiha and also to report any village secrets no matter the importance. Both of them had to attend any and all meetings because the clan was afraid that one of them could eventually be compromised. Missing a meeting when they didn't have a mission was unacceptable.

"I'm sorry Shisui but you know you have to. If you don't go-"

"They'll what? Threaten my family? Kill my family? They're already dead. Ridicule me? You know they wouldn't because it would look bad for the clan. Kick me out of the clan? The more I think of it, the less I care if they do. I have no reason to go, I'm tired of dealing with all this shit." Shisui half-shouted half-whispered, sounding as if he would break down at any second.

Itachi watched as Sakura wrapped her arms around Shisui and buried her face in his shirt. She was crying for him.

All he wanted to do was yell at his father, tell his clansmen that they were being foolish if they thought a coup against the village was a good plan. He had already tried to talk to his father calmly but that had escalated quickly and Itachi knew it was a bad idea. He didn't want to hurt the clan or cause any rift because that would undoubtedly affect Sasuke and that was the last person he ever wanted to hurt.

"Can't Shisui miss just one meeting? Can't you tell them he's sick?" Sakura asked tearfully.

"It doesn't work like that Sakura-chan. If I tell them that Shisui's sick they will demand that I drag him to the meeting and would send help. He has to go and he knows it. I'm sorry." Itachi wished both he and Shisui could miss the next hundred meetings.

He wished that one day there would be no more clan meetings about the coup and instead meetings on how to reintegrate themselves into the village; to stop making enemies and start making friends. But that was a pipe dream, the Uchiha were too proud and too arrogant to want to interact with the other clans of the village.

"Then I'll go and tell them to leave Shisui alone." Sakura huffed.

The serious note in her voice was evident but her flushed cheeks and expression just lifted all the tension from the air. Itachi couldn't help but smile at the girl and even Shisui broke out of his saddened mood when he started to chuckle quietly.

With a great big sigh, Shisui looked at Itachi and nodded. He would attend the meeting.

* * *

Sakura sat on the couch in the living room and waited for Shisui. She tried to read up on chakra exercises but gave up after reading the same paragraph for the sixth time. She was too worried about Shisui to find a distraction. He had been gone for over two hours - she couldn't imagine a clan meeting lasting that long - and she was restless.

She had tried to stretch out her chakra to sense those around her but that proved to be a terrible idea. As it turned out, if she tried to use chakra while under chakra exhaustion, it felt like fire running through her body and burned her from the inside. It was not a pleasant feeling and she immediately learned her lesson.

She was stuck at home, not able to practice chakra exercises and not able to pay attention to any reading material. Time was dragging on for her to say the least.

Thankfully after two and a half hours she heard the front door open and she shifted on the couch so she could see Shisui when he walked through the front hallway. Only, it wasn't Shisui, it was her mother and Takeshi.

"Mama!" Sakura cried out in joy as she hurriedly hopped over to them.


	18. Chapter 18

_Very sorry for the late update, writer's block is in full force. I managed to get through this one, and now things should flow easier. This was the chapter to connect everything, and things will start to become interesting._

 _Also, I was pretty busy with Avengers and Game of Thrones, not going to lie! I may or may not have seen GoT episode 3 several times :D_

 _This is a shorter chapter, but still important to the story, though a bit more slice of life._

 _Again, I love hearing back from you guys, your reviews make me so happy!_

 _Enjoy the read :)_

* * *

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find him. She cursed her leg for slowing her down but at least she had managed to find Ino (she had been distracted because she thought she had seen Sasuke nearby), Shikamaru (he had literally laid down just on the other side of the tree that she was counting behind), Choji (eating chips while trying to hide from someone wasn't the best idea) and Kiba (he had come out of hiding to help her when she tripped over branches with her crutches).

All she had to do was find Takeshi and win her first time playing hide and seek. She made sure to not sense for anyone's chakra because she wanted to win fair and square. She didn't know Takeshi was so adept at hiding and made a mental note to learn from him.

Sakura walked around the entire park once more, really looking into every nook and cranny she could find but still couldn't find him. She let out a sigh of frustration and looked up at the sky to think. She had looked everywhere several times which could only mean he was moving around, most likely behind her back. So instead of always moving clockwise around the park, she decided to start going counterclockwise immediately.

She tried to hide her devilish smile but couldn't; she had outsmarted Takeshi and was proud of it. He was more of a regular kid and had friends while growing up and, even though he spent a lot of time travelling with her parents, he still played with friends regularly. Sakura, on the other hand, finally had friends for the first time in her life and still had to learn all the tricks to kid games.

She rounded the outside of the jungle gym and, from the corner of her eye, saw movement in the trees to her left. She glanced at the already captured kids and saw both Ino and Kiba grinning and nodding their heads in approval.

She quickly hopped to the trees to the left and constantly scanned the area for more movement. When she reached her destination she looked behind every tree but to her great dismay, Takeshi was nowhere to be found. She didn't understand how he could have escaped, she was sure she was keeping a vigilant eye in a wide enough section that she definitely would have caught him. Her feeling of elation was quickly replaced with confusion and disappointment.

Sakura walked around the rest of the playground and trees but didn't glimpse any other movement. She lowered her head in defeat and slowly made her way back to her captured friends.

"Takeshi, I give up!" She shouted, not sure exactly how far he was from them.

There was a rustling sound coming from the patch of trees where she almost caught him and all the kids turned to look. Sakura stared dumbfoundedly as she saw Takeshi climb down from a tree.

Of course Takeshi could climb a tree, it was bizarre that she had forgotten such a well known fact. She was certain that he had climbed the tree but left himself visible since she wasn't able to emulate his climbing skills. She mentally bet herself that had she simply looked up into the trees, she would have found him grinning at her in plain sight.

She couldn't help but smile when she saw him walking towards her with the brightest smile she had ever seen him do. She was even happier when everyone ran over to him and sang his praises.

As she neared the group, she saw a dog standing near the trees looking at her. He looked very familiar and she debated going to see him. Her body decided for her and started to walk towards the trees.

"Sakura-chan, where are you going?" Takeshi called out.

She glanced at Takeshi then motioned to him that she would be there in a minute as she turned back towards the dog. Only, the dog was no longer there. She looked around to see where the dog was going but she couldn't find him. In theory, she should have been able to at least see the dog running away in a certain direction but she couldn't catch a single glimpse of the animal.

There had been something shiny on his forehead and Sakura had automatically thought that it was a Konoha headband which would mean it was a ninken.

She vaguely remembered seeing dogs when Akio first saved her life and wondered if those dogs and the one she had just seen were the same. It would explain why he looked familiar and could also explain why he was looking at her. She made a mental note to start trying to sense the dog's chakra next time she saw him so she could maybe one day track him down.

She suddenly felt someone knock into her and hug her fiercely from behind. Even though she couldn't see who it was, she knew it was Ino based on the slender arms. Sakura returned the hug as best as possible and was pulled into a group hug by Choji. Through Ino's protests, Choji managed to rope in Shikamaru who stood still as a post, clearly uncomfortable with the affection. Sakura copied Choji and hugged all of them back, serving to make Shikamaru's face redden even more.

She looked over Choji's shoulder and motioned for both Kiba and Takeshi to join them; she didn't want to leave anyone out. She stood in the middle of the group hug with Ino, but while Ino was complaining that Choji was too close to her, Sakura revelled in everyone's closeness. She didn't miss Choji's smile which only made things better.

She rarely saw Choji give a genuine smile, especially when Ino was complaining. Sakura understood Choji more than the rest of her friends because of the bullying. The kids bullied him because of his weight and her because of her forehead and hair colour. They both retreated within themselves and cried a lot and they had both found a friend to help them feel better about themselves. Choji had Shikamaru and Sakura had Ino.

She felt a hand rest on her head and looked up to see Takeshi crinkling his eyes in happiness. Oh, how she had missed her family! She didn't fail to notice his growth spurt over the past few weeks and she was tempted to bet that he may even be taller than Shisui. It was as if he grew by a head since the last time she saw him which seemed ridiculous.

Their group hug was interrupted when Kiba's sister and her ninken arrived at the park. The ninken each chose a child to sniff and tickle. Sakura, Kiba and Takeshi were forced to break off to stop the torturous tickling as Hana openly laughed and rewarded her ninken with treats.

"That was mean!" Kiba yelled at his sister but was instantly tackled to the ground by one of her dogs.

"Mom just got back from her mission and needs us home." His sister quickly shifted from jovial to serious in a split second.

Sakura turned to look at Kiba and noticed his eyes widening and any trace of happiness disappear from his face. She watched him get up and walk towards his sister and grab her hand. He turned around to face his friends and quickly said goodbye to them just before he and his sister took off running.

Sakura turned back towards her cousin and saw her mother walking towards the park. She immediately brightened and took a few steps forward to stand beside Takeshi.

"We have to leave too, my Mama's done her errands." She told her friends.

She was full of joy and happiness and practically threw herself at Ino to hug her. She proceeded to give both Shikamaru and Choji their own bear hug before taking Takeshi's hand in her own and walking towards her mother.

Takeshi stopped and crouched down beside her. She wasn't sure what he was doing and decided to wait and see.

"Did you want to hop on?" He asked.

Sakura eyes welled up with tears; it was the same thing her father always did to her. She didn't trust her voice so she simply nodded and climbed onto Takeshi's back.

She had tried her best to not think of her father, aunt or uncle when outside the house for the past few weeks to reduce her chances of crying and being bullied. Takeshi's simple gesture amd reminder of her father was enough to leave her in a blubbering mess.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" the worry in her mother's voice was palpable.

"N-nothing," Sakura stuttered, "I just m-miss Papa."

She buried her face in Takeshi's back and held on tightly. She didn't want to ruin their mood by reminding them that her father died and felt guilty for it. If she never wanted to be a shinobi, her father never would have brought her through the training grounds and he never would have gotten hit by that kunai. It was all her fault.

"It's not your fault Kura-chan." Takeshi told her, as if reading her mind.

Sakura didn't answer, she simply tightened her hold on him and tried to bury her face into his back even more.

* * *

Two weeks. The damn mission had lasted 2 weeks already when it was supposed to have taken five days with the information provided. Shisui was going to have a thing or two to report to the Hokage about Konoha's information gathering abilities when he returned home.

Typically, he enjoyed long missions, but he had left Sakura alone while Akio was dying and her family was still out of the village. He knew he was getting too attached and he cursed himself for it, but she made him happy and it was about time he thought of his own happiness before others.

The only good thing to come from this extended mission as far as Shisui could tell, was that they got to miss the Uchiha get together. He always felt like he was suffocating at a family gathering lately due to the serious air and the unspoken secrets that every adult knew about. He always felt like an outcast since his parents were dead, and he usually tried to play with kids like Sasuke, those who had nothing to do with planning the coup.

Despite his dislike of the gatherings, he knew Itachi had it worse since Fugaku always paraded him in front of everyone. Itachi had tried to avoid his father one year which only resulted in Itachi being forbidden to go on missions for a week in order to spend more time with his family.

Shisui definitely didn't miss the slight smile that wouldn't leave Itachi's face the entire mission.

Though Shisui tried to smile, he couldn't bring himself go do it. Their information marked their target as a chunin which was utter bullshit if you asked him. Their target also had a surprise accomplice and both would definitely be at least A rank shinobi.

The fact that they had to cross over into Suna occasionally and avoid the patrols made things even worse. At least they were able to take a small break while letting the sandstorm pass them by.

Shisui had heard horror stories of what happened to shinobi when they travelled during a sandstorm, the worst being that a team had gotten sand in their eyes at such high speed that it had caused permanent damage to their vision. He shuddered at that thought, imagining how terrible it would be if he wouldn't be able to use his sharingan ever again.

"You're not going to like this." Itachi said as he appeared beside him.

Itachi had taken the first watch when they found a cave to wait out the sandstorm in and Shisui had managed to sleep decently well - for being on a mission.

Itachi handed him a letter with the Hokage's seal. Shisui tried to get a read from Itachi about the contents of the letter but only got angrier. If Itachi wasn't happy, he sure as hell wouldn't be happy either.

He opened the letter, read it three times with increasing anger then ripped it to shreds. He put the pieces in his pocket to later burn them all, which would hopefully should make him feel slightly better.

"Another mission. I'm guessing the information was gathered by the same useless fucking team so we'll be stuck out here for at least another three or four weeks." Shisui seethed.

He had half a mind to increase the amount of time they spent tracking down their target, but knew that would cut down their sleep time which would increase their risk of danger. They were stuck for the long haul.

For the next six weeks - yes, Shisui had been wrong about how long their missions would take - the two Uchiha travelled across the elemental nations tracking down and eventually eliminating their targets. The fact that both targets were found at the same place at the same time made things a bit more complicated.

Shisui knew there was absolutely no information from the Hokage that Konoha suspected both targets to be working together. Should Konoha have an inkling that they were, the Hokage would have said so in the second mission since both he and Itachi were ANBU.

The biggest difficulty when they finally found their targets was that they were severely outnumbered and in Kumo. They definitely did not want to be seen since the Hyuga incident was still fairly recent and tension between the two villages was at an all time high. It felt as if being seen could start a war.

So they patiently kept track of their targets, keeping a safe distance and tailing them throughout the village with Shisui's crows. Only once they left Kumo and headed towards the land of Frost could the Konoha shinobi finally complete their mission.

The run back to Konoha had been slow due to fatigue and the various injuries sustained: Shisui had broken his right arm while Itachi had a dislocated shoulder and sprained ankle. Itachi refused to get carried at first until he could barely walk on his own, let alone run.

When they finally arrived at the gates, Shisui saw a blur of pink and picked up his pace. His smile grew when he saw Sakura sitting on the bench with her cousin - Takeshi, Shisui remembered. He didn't miss the tears in her eyes as he approached the gate guards to sign in, nor did he miss the fact that her crutches were nowhere to be seen.


	19. Chapter 19

**Another update!**

 **This chapter was super easy to write, so here it is, it's also longer than the past few chapters.**

 **There are a few things that made me laugh when I was writing it, and I hope it makes you laugh too.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you thought :D**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

She did the same thing to Shisui that she did to Takeshi when he arrived: she hugged him and didn't let go until her arms were tired. As soon as she let go, she noticed that both Shisui and Itachi were hurt, something she failed to noticed due to her excitement. She was about to hug Itachi but he was barely standing on his own so she figured it was best that she didn't accidentally hurt him.

"Kura-chan, we should probably get them to the hospital." Takeshi stated as he walked over to Itachi to help him walk. Itachi hesitated at first but Sakura sighed in relief when he put his arm around Takeshi's shoulders for support.

"I can carry you Shisui." She told the older Uchiha with a serious expression.

She loved his dumbstruck expression and his gaping mouth. He looked back towards Itachi who was just as thoroughly confused, but Takeshi's snickering made the joke obvious.

She looked up at Shisui and smiled devilishly and shrieked when he picked her up off the ground, unfortunately she was dropped almost immediately. She watched as Shisui cradled his right arm and apologized profusely for dropping her. Thankfully she landed on her uninjured leg and could stand on her own.

"Don't be sorry, you're hurt. We can walk you two to the hospital." She reassured Shisui.

She made sure to walk on Shisui's left side so she didn't accidentally brush up against his broken arm. Sakura made sure to tell him about all the events that happened during his mission; playing with her friends, going to school, and most importantly, spending all her free time with her family.

She made sure to invite both Shisui and Itachi for dinner that night, even though she suspected Itachi wouldn't be able to make it, seeing as he had his own family to spend time with. She knew Shisui would be happy to have a home cooked meal prepared for him after such a long mission; he had complained numerous times to previously that he just wanted to relax upon finishing a mission.

Once Itachi and Shisui had been assigned a doctor for their post-mission checkup, Takeshi and Sakura left to go prepare dinner for Shisui.

"It'll never cease to amaze me that shinobi willingly take missions that may result in them getting hurt." Takeshi admitted.

Sakura knew that Takeshi didn't mind shinobi, he just had no interest and couldn't understand why people would risk their lives for their village. He believed in helping the economy, and was even starting to gain an interest in politics. He had recently told her that the best way for things to change is to be in a position of power, a position where the Hokage will listen to your ideas.

"Shisui and Itachi are the strongest people I know; I don't think there's anyone that could beat them both together." She praised.

"I hope you're right Kura-chan, that is, until you become a jounin of course. I'm sure you'll be much stronger than them." Takeshi stated and she felt her face flush.

She knew there was no way she could become stronger than Itachi or Shisui - her leg made sure of that - but the fact that Takeshi thought she was capable made her happy. Even if she had been a prodigy, she would always be at a disadvantage. She knew she had gotten better at channeling chakra through her leg, but even then, she was only able to walk slowly on her leg for a maximum of fifteen minutes.

She grabbed Takeshi's hand in her own and squeezed it. He was one of the nicest and smartest people she knew and his faith in her was astounding.

"Mama we're home!" Sakura yelled as they entered their home.

"You two are home early, does that mean Shisui-kun is finally back?" her mother asked.

"He's at the hospital with Itachi, then Shisui is coming over for dinner. Me and Take-kun want to help make him dinner." Sakura exclaimed

"Takeshi and I, Kura-chan." Takeshi corrected her.

Despite Takeshi being one of the nicest people she knew, it irritated her when he corrected her. Her mother understood her, it's not as if she used a word with a different meaning. She glared at Takeshi as he chuckled and started cutting up vegetables.

"If you don't want me to correct you, learn to say things correctly, it's that simple." Takeshi explained.

Sakura ignored him and walked over to the fridge to take out some shrimp and beef - both Shisui and hers' favourite ramen meats. She decided to stomp back to the counter and immediately regretted her decision to stomp when her chakra flared and all but died out. She fell to the ground onto her knees and yelled in pain. Both her mother and Takeshi were by her side, helping her stand up.

Sakura bawled as her mother held her and Takeshi rushed to get her crutches. She was angry at herself for deciding to stomp, she knew she couldn't channel chakra that well through her leg to mitigate sudden impacts - it was why she wasn't able to run.

"Did you want to sit down for a while Sakura-chan?" Her mother asked gently while running a hand through Sakura's pink locks.

"I want to help. Shisui hasn't had a good meal in a long time and I want to help make it for him." Sakura sniffled.

"Kura-chan, you can be team leader for this mission. Make sure we do everything properly." Takeshi suggested after giving her the crutches.

"B-but the teams work together, everyone does their part." The young girl stammered.

"I don't know why, but I usually see adult shinobi standing around doing nothing while kid shinobi do mundane tasks. There was once team I saw painting a fence and the adult just supervised." Takeshi recalled.

"Those are the genin teams. I guess the jounin are there to supervise and the genin learn different things by doing the work." Sakura was no longer crying, just being held by her mother.

"Perfect! We can be your genin and you can be the jounin. It can teach you to be patient." Takeshi said with a smirk.

Sakura didn't like the way he said that last part but nodded nonetheless. Her mother gave her a kiss on the forehead and picked up the meat that fell to the floor.

"Umm, sensei, how do I cut vegetables?" Takeshi all but laughed as he asked Sakura.

* * *

He wanted to go directly to his Princess' house for dinner after his checkup but he had to go home to shower. Which proved to be a mistake when an Uchiha police member kept pounding at his door as soon as he finished his shower.

Reluctantly Shisui answered and gave the best death glare he could without releasing killer intent - he didn't want to cause chaos in the district when he was so close to a home cooked meal.

"Fugaku-sama wishes to speak with you." The Uchiha member said. Shisui tried to put a name to the face but couldn't quite manage.

"I can go see him in two hours, a friend is making me some food."

"You will speak to him immediately. It is of utmost importance." The Uchiha commanded.

Shisui made sure that his expression stayed neutral, but inside he was cursing his damn clan for being such a pain in his ass. His stomach was growling something fierce and all he wanted to do was eat and laugh and be happy. He gave a curt affirmation to the Uchiha and slammed the door shut - his only method of showing his anger without causing a scene.

He stood in his hallway and took a few breaths to calm down, there was no sense going to see Fugaku in an agitated state, it would just make their meeting more tense. He sincerely hoped that Itachi would be joining the them; last time it was just him and Fugaku, Shisui had to force himself to not yell at the clan head numerous times.

His stomach growled in hunger which gave him the clarity to quickly go see Fugaku then go eat.

No one travelled by rooftops in the Uchiha district so Shisui quickly walked to his favourite cousin's house and knocked. No footsteps could be heard approaching the door but he felt Mikoto's chakra signature and couldn't help but smile as she opened the door.

"Shisui-kun, that was quick. Fugaku and Itachi-kun are in the study." She informed him politely.

Shisui thanked her and quickly walked through the house to the study. He noticed Sasuke in the living room completing his homework but didn't stop to tease the boy.

He shut the door behind him when he entered the study and sat down beside Itachi, hoping the meeting would only last five minutes. He glanced at his cousin and saw just how tired the boy was; the bags under his eyes were much more noticeable and for once he had a slight slouch while sitting down.

"Do either of you have any news to report?" Fugaku asked sternly.

Shisui wanted to facepalm so badly. How could they have anything to report when they'd been on a mission outside the village for the past 2 fucking months? He reigned in his frustration as best as possible before speaking.

"Nothing new to report Fugaku-sama, but I will be extra vigilant this week and report at the weekly clan meeting." Shisui answered.

"The council and Hokage have suggested an agreement to increase the Uchiha Police service funding received in exchange for allowing five non-Uchiha members an officer position. This is their way of placating us while slowly undermining our authority. They think of us as fools." The clan head summarized. "Do your best to discover their true intention and who was the first to offer such a pathetic agreement."

The two younger Uchiha nodded and waited to see if anything else would be discussed.

"You are both tired. Mikoto has made enough food for you both." Fugaku dismissed the two.

Shisui stood up and waited for Itachi to follow suit. They both made their way to the kitchen where Mikoto waited with a strained smile.

"I thought you two would like so real food after having been gone two months. Eat as much as you'd like and Shisui, bring home some leftovers too."

"Sorry Mikoto, I already have dinner plans and I'm late. It looks delicious, I'm sure Itachi can save me some for tomorrow." Shisui quickly stated and flashed Mikoto his sweetest smile - he knew she could never say no to him when he was being sweet.

"You can come over tomorrow and enjoy it with Itachi then. And also, why haven't I heard of this girl you've been seeing? Is it serious?" Mikoto inquired.

Shisui missed his step and almost fell to the ground. He whipped his head around so fast that he thought he had given himself whiplash. Itachi was actually giggling and Shisui couldn't understand why she would think he had a girlfriend.

"It's ok to be bashful Shisui, she must be pretty special if _you're_ a blubbering mess." She teased.

Shisui couldn't help but join Itachi and laugh - he had to admit that it felt delightful to laugh after his hellish mission. Try as he might, he couldn't stop long enough to utter even one word. When he calmed down after a few minutes, he wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I can bring her over in a few days for brunch if you'd like to meet her." Shisui offered, wiggling his eyebrows.

He saw her hesitate and narrow her eyes; he knew she was trying to understand what was so funny.

"That sounds wonderful Shisui, I bet she's the reason why you've been happy these past several months." Mikoto finished.

Shisui simply stared straight at Mikoto, trying to figure out if she was teasing him or if he _had_ been visibly happier since he had met Sakura.

He bid farewell to Itachi and his mother and made his way to Sakura's house in deep thought. When he thought back to his behaviour before and after saving Sakura, there was a glaringly obvious change that he never noticed.

He silently thanked Mikoto for being able to point out the obvious that no one else had been able to. But then again, he didn't really spend much time with other people so it would be hard for them to notice a change. Lately, he had mostly spent his time with Sakura, Itachi, Akio and whoever was put on his team for a mission.

He stopped abruptly in front of Sakura's door after thinking of Akio. What kind of friend was he that he hadn't visited his dying friend in the hospital as soon as he came back to the village? He glanced back towards the hospital and decided that he would go visit Akio after spending some time with Sakura despite his exhausted state.

The door opened and he saw Sakura standing there with a dirty apron and pieces of food in her hair, sporting such a big smile that it warmed his heart. He relaxed as he stepped through the doorway, a relaxation that he hasn't felt for a few months. One where he knew he was safe and would get to sleep in an actual bed for a full night's sleep.

"He's here!" Sakura shouted happily and walked to the kitchen.

"Come sit down, Shisui, there's a _lot_ of food. We may have gotten carried away a bit." Mebuki said sheepishly.

She wasn't lying when she said there was a lot of food. Shisui doubted that they would be able to eat all of it in one night, but he was excited to eat to his heart's content without having to deal with any clan business. He walked towards the counter to serve himself but Sakura stopped him with both her hands on his stomach. There was no real strength behind her push but he decided to do as he was told and sat down.

Sakura filled up a plate of food for him while Takeshi got him a big bowl of soup. It all smelled amazing and it took Shisui a lot of effort to keep himself from drooling at the dinner table in front of everyone. He chuckled when Sakura sat down beside him with a plate full of food and started devouring it at an impressive pace.

After a few minutes, he was starting to get very sleepy. He wanted to do the dishes but was told to go sit down in the living room and relax. It was a terrible idea seeing as he was starting to drift off to sleep and he still had to visit Akio. Once he sat down, - more like laid down - what little energy he had left disappeared and he had no intentions of moving from his spot. His eyes were heavy, limbs impossible to move and he couldn't wipe the satisfied smile off his face.

He barely felt Sakura as she sat beside him and snuggled up to him. He was in a state of half-awake and half-asleep and it was perfect. He heard snippets of conversation but didn't really feel the need to partake.

He almost convinced himself to visit Akio the next day but the guilt of not seeing him weighed heavily on his conscience. He groaned and straightened himself into a sitting position, hoping that he could motivate himself to go to the hospital.

"Not comfy?" Sakura asked.

"I would love to sleep but I have to go visit Akio." Shisui mumbled.

He saw Sakura stiffen from the corner of his eye but dismissed it. He was in no state of mind to analyze anything.

"I can go with you if you wait until tomorrow." She offered and wrapped her arms around him.

He looked at her and felt torn. Visit Akio in the hospital or sleep and visit him first thing in the morning. He saw Takeshi with two pillows and a blanket which helped him decide that his eyes did in fact need to stay shut for a several hours - he would love to be able to sleep for a week straight but he knew that was impossible.

Shisui placed one pillow for himself and gave Sakura the other as Takeshi placed the blanket on the two. The last thing he heard before sleep took him was Mebuki quietly talking and laughing with Takeshi.

* * *

"The hospital's this way, Princess." Shisui said when Sakura started to steer him away from the hospital.

She felt uneasy the moment she woke up that morning and didn't quite know how to tell Shisui what happened during his two-month long absence. She thought it would have been easy to tell him, but she just couldn't find the courage to inform her best friend. She knew she was a coward but she couldn't help it, she didn't want to be the reason he was sad or angry or upset.

"Shisui," She started - all she had to say was that Akio had been buried in the cemetery, it was simple - "I'd like to walk this way for now." She finished.

Sakura couldn't meet Shisui's eyes, she didn't deserve to. She felt him stop in his tracks and knew he had crouched down to match her height and it took all her effort to keep staring at the ground.

"Princess, what's wrong?" He asked.

She hated that he could read her so easily. She made a mental note to learn to hide her feelings from him, it was after all one of the shinobi rules and she told herself that by the time she was a genin, she would be completely unreadable.

"Nothing," she lied "Mama just wanted me to go this way to get…" she trailed off quietly.

She cursed at her inability to lie to Shisui; she was completely open with him - she felt safe with him and trusted him with her life - so she hadn't had any practice to lie to her saviour.

"You can tell me what's wrong, I won't be mad." He tried to reassure her and she almost told him when he ruffled her hair.

She opened her mouth but just couldn't say anything, she couldn't do _anything_. Well, the only thing she _could_ do was cry and she did. She startled when Shisui picked her up in his arms and held her close, trying to comfort her. It took a few minutes but she eventually managed to calm down.

"Please… just follow me." Sakura whispered and found the courage to look Shisui in the eyes.

He put her down gently and she started to slowly walk away from the hospital - she didn't have her crutches with her and in order to prevent chakra exhaustion, she had to take things slow - and towards the cemetery. Sakura assumed that Shisui was too preoccupied with her well-being to have noticed the direction they were going until they stepped into the cemetery. It was strange for Shisui to not have figured it out, but she just passed it off as him being exhausted from his mission; two months was a very long time to be away from home in her books.

"When?" Shisui strained.

"He died in the hospital two days after you left. At least he wasn't alone when he died." Sakura explained quietly.

"Please don't tell me you were there with him." Shisui pleaded.

Just thinking of Akio brought her back to that day. The day when all she wanted to do was run away from the hospital and never look back. The day she had to watch someone so strong die. The day she realized there was more ways than through bloodshed for people to die.

She remembered his breathing. The quiet breaths that turned to gurgling that started to stop at random times. There was a raspiness to his breaths that reminded her of his frail voice the last time she heard him speak.

The worst were the convulsions and the flailing of his limbs. The convulsions were small, they only looked like shivers at first until Sakura noticed they didn't stop. She tried to pull the blanket higher on Akio to warm him up but he just kept shivering. It was only when she started to panic that she yelled for help. She had tried to hold Akio's hand but his hand squeezed hard and hurt her. She still held on, hoping it would help him calm down.

The moment the beeping of the heart monitor changed to a constant tone was the moment all hell broke loose. The nurses and doctor rushed to get her out of the way while also using some kind of medical ninjutsu and lightning ninjutsu on Akio. They frantically tried to resuscitate him but the constant tone never once hiccupped.

They refused to let Sakura stay in his room so she sat just outside of it, crying. There was no one with her and there was nothing she could have done. She spent hours crying and remembering how her aunt, uncle and father had died. She didn't know if Akio had suffered like they had, it didn't seem likely, but then again just because there was no blood didn't mean it was painless.

She had yelled and almost lashed out when a nurse placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder to see if everything was alright. Sakura only nodded and retreated into a corner as soon as the nurse left. She didn't want to walk through the village alone. She feared that the tendril monster would be there somehow.

She dreamed every night after Akio's death. Sometimes the tendril monster killed her aunt and uncle, sometimes he killed her father and sometimes, he managed to sneak into the hospital to kill Akio.

"Sakura-chan. Were you there when Akio died?" Shisui repeated and broke Sakura out of her thoughts.

Her eyes gleamed with tears and she smiled at him - she didn't realize her smile was the saddest one Shisui had seen since the first time he visited her in the hospital.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there with you. I'm sorry you had to see more death." Shisui apologized.

Sakura didn't know what to do when Shisui started crying. She returned the hug as best she could and they just stood there with each other.

After a few minutes Sakura couldn't help but chuckle which only served to confuse Shisui.

"Crybaby." She teased Shisui.

Shisui's eyes widened comically and as soon as he looked at her, his lips curled into a genuine smile.

"You know it, and I'm damn proud of it. It's actually how I beat my enemies but don't tell anyone." Shisui responded.

Their walk to Akio's grave was filled with quiet chuckles, but as soon as Sakura spotted the tombstone, she fell silent. Shisui followed suit and together they sat in front of Akio's grave.

"Hi Akio, Shisui wanted to see you and I wanted to say hello again. I'm getting better at channeling my chakra, if I walk slowly, I don't need my crutches for fifteen minutes straight! I usually walk around with Takeshi or Mama anyways just in case I need their help. I miss you." Sakura said.

She looked towards Shisui and waited for him to speak. After a few minutes of silence, she poked him in the stomach, unsure why he was still as a statue.

"You can speak to him, even if he can't hear, it's always helped me. I come here at least once a week to visit my family, and now Akio." She reassured Shisui.

"I don't see the point of saying anything out loud." Shisui stated, apprehensively.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, it just helps me feel better." She responded.

They sat together in silence until Shisui stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. He extended his hand and Sakura hesitated; she was used to spending more time with the people she so dearly missed. She glanced up at Shisui and saw his discomfort, she just didn't know why.

Sakura reached for his hand and let him help her stand and they started walking out of the cemetery. Once they left, Shisui sat down on the first bench they passed and lowered his head into his hands. She watched as he ran his fingers tensely through his hair and took deep breaths.

She waited beside him, leaning on him to let him know she was there. She hoped he would talk to her and let her know what was wrong, but she didn't think he would. He wouldn't want to burden her with his problems and it hurt her. She wished she was a shinobi so he would take her more seriously and entrust her with his feelings.

"Did you want to come with me to brunch tomorrow? It's at the Uchiha compound." Shisui said out of the blue.

"Are you sure I can go? I only know you and Itachi." Sakura asked.

"Yeah, Itachi's mother is making brunch for the family and I'd like you to be there." He said sincerely.

"If you want me to be there, I'll be there!" Sakura exclaimed happily, "Do I have to wear something fancy?" she asked.

"No, your normal clothes are fine." Shisui answered.

Sakura's stomach growled, interrupting the silence and Shisui laughed out loud. She knew her face was red like a tomato - she hoped one day that would stop, she felt embarrassed even if only Shisui had heard - so she buried her face into Shisui's side.

"You're always hungry, Princess. Let's go to Itachi's favourite dango stand, my treat." Shisui said and crouched down in front of her.

She tried her best to stop the tears - she also hoped one day she would stop crying when someone reminded her of her father, but she doubted it would stop - and climbed onto Shisui's back.

* * *

As soon as the door opened, she saw a beautiful woman with dark hair and dark eyes. The woman noticed her and Sakura cowered behind Shisui.

She watched confusion etch itself into the woman's face and Sakura felt like running away. Had Shisui lied to her? It didn't seem like the woman wanted her there at all.

"Shisui, is this…?" The woman trailed off.

"Mikoto, this is Sakura-chan. She's the girl I've been spending all my time with." Shisui introduced.

The confusion on Mikoto's face was quickly replaced with a caring smile as she crouched down to Sakura's level. Sakura hesitated but eventually built up the courage and stopped hiding behind Shisui. She held out her hand like she's seen her father do when meeting new people and was relieved when Mikoto gave her a beautiful smile and shook her hand.

"It's very nice to meet you Sakura-chan, any friend of Shisui's is welcome here." The woman greeted.

"It's nice to meet you Mikoto-san." Sakura said quietly.

"How did you meet Shisui?" Mikoto inquired.

Sakura lowered her gaze and refused to look at Mikoto. She never had to explain to anyone how she had met Shisui before aside from her family. Then again, the only new people she had met recently were Itachi and Akio who were both with Shisui that night.

"It's a complicated story Mikoto, I don't think-"

"Shisui saved me." Sakura interrupted Shisui ever so softly and looked up to meet Mikoto's eyes.

"He saved you? I'm glad he did." Mikoto said genuinely.

"Itachi and Akio saved me too." Sakura added.

Sakura noticed Mikoto's smile soften and it almost looked heartbreaking. Little did Sakura know, Mikoto knew Akio, Itachi and Shisui were on the same team frequently which meant that Sakura had been in danger and saved during one of their missions.

Sakura was startled when Mikoto drew her into a hug - the kind of hug mothers did when they wanted their child to feel safe - but she was grateful for it.

"Kaa-san!" A small voice yelled from inside and Mikoto slowly let go of Sakura and stood up.

"I have to go finish preparing the food. You two make yourselves at home, it'll be ready very shortly." Mikoto explained.

Sakura followed Shisui who followed Mikoto inside. It was the third time she ever stepped foot into someone else's home - the first being Ino and the second being Akio - and she didn't know what to do, so she stuck to Shisui like glue.

She took the time to sense for chakra signatures and she found Itachi in another room with a second, much smaller signature. She also sensed Mikoto's chakra in what Sakura assumed was the kitchen.

When they rounded the corner, Sakura spotted Itachi sitting down looking at a kid her age who was talking animatedly in front of him.

"Hello Sakura-chan, Shisui." Itachi greeted them with a small upturn of his lip.

Sakura could see the resemblance between Mikoto and Itachi, they both had a beautiful quality to them. She then looked at the kid who was trying his best to get Itachi's attention back onto him and then it clicked. This was Sasuke. The boy Ino kept staring at in class.

He was acting so different from class that she had a hard time believing it was the same kid. The kid from class was quiet and preferred to stay away from everyone else while this kid would not stop making noise with his mouth.

"Sasuke, come meet someone your age, she's a friend of mine." Shisui told Sasuke

Sasuke completely ignored him and simply tried harder to get his brother's attention. Shisui sighed and got a mischievous glint in his eye. Sakura stood by and watched the three Uchihas in their natural habitat.

"She's also Itachi's friend." Shisui added.

Immediately, Sasuke turned towards Shisui and Sakura and narrowed his eyes. She didn't like the fact that Sasuke stared at her so intently while taking small steps towards her.

"Why is he your friend? He's _my_ brother." Sasuke exclaimed.

Sakura really didn't like the attention Sasuke was giving her and again chose to hide behind Shisui. She felt a hand rest on top of her head for support and relaxed a little.

"Sasuke, don't be rude to Sakura-chan, I'm allowed to have friends, aren't I?" Itachi asked his brother.

Sakura watched as Sasuke's face flushed and he turned towards Itachi.

"You can, but you have to like _me_ more." Sasuke said quietly, almost afraid to lose his brother.

Itachi poked Sasuke's forehead with his finger and smiled at him fondly.

Sakura followed Shisui and approached Sasuke, still making sure she kept Shisui between her and Sasuke. Itachi whispered something she couldn't hear to Sasuke and suddenly Sasuke was standing in front of her, looking intently at his feet.

"I'm… I'm sorry for what I said." Sasuke apologized.

She chanced it and stepped away from Shisui. She looked up at Itachi who simply nodded at her and she took it as encouragement to speak to his brother.

"My name is Sakura. It's nice to meet you, Sasuke." She introduced herself and, though she was torn on if she was actually happy to meet him, she decided to start off on the right foot with Sasuke.

"Do you go to the academy?" He asked her when he finally took the time to look at her without being angry.

"W-we're in different classes. You're in Ino's class and I'm in the other class but I wish I was in her class." Sakura explained.

Sakura noticed Sasuke flinch when she said Ino's name and she felt a surge of anger towards Sasuke. Ino was the best person she knew and if he didn't like her, maybe she wouldn't like him in return.

"She creeps me out. She's always looking at me and always wants to be partner with me when sensei tells us to work in a group."

Sakura thought back to when the two classes were combined and understood Sasuke's apprehension.

"She's not the only girl that does that." Sasuke added.

Sakura was startled by Shisui suddenly picking Sasuke up and hugging him.

"Sasuke-kun! You're so amazing and cute! Sasuke-kun marry me! Sasuke-kun!" Shisui swooned.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh as Sasuke struggled to free himself from Shisui's hold, all the while Shisui kept swooning over him.

"Shisui!" Sasuke half muttered, half yelled.

Sakura couldn't help but quietly chuckle at Shisui's antics. The big contrast between Shisui and Sasuke's personalities was apparent and Sakura could safely say that she most definitely enjoyed Shisui's silliness.

When Shisui finally let Sasuke down, Sakura wrapped her arms around Shisui and didn't let go. He in turn picked her up and spun her around, filling the house with her laughter.

"Food is ready, kids!" Mikoto's shout informed them and Sakura was excited to try new home cooked food.

Sasuke stood around the table until Itachi finally sat down then he ran to take a seat next to his big brother. Shisui then sat across from Sasuke and Sakura took a seat beside him and across from Itachi.

The food was marvelous. Sakura slowly ate her food to make sure she wasn't the first one to finish - her mother had always told her that she shouldn't be the first one to get seconds when she wasn't home.

"Mikoto, thank you for the food, it's delicious." Shisui thanked his host.

"Yes, thank you, it's very, very good." Sakura added quietly, following Shisui's lead.

"I'm glad you like it Sakura-chan, and I'm glad Shisui brought you over. How are you finding your classes at the academy?" Mikoto asked.

"I like my classes, but I wish they would teach us faster." She admitted.

"My sensei teaches pretty quickly. I can't wait until we spar and throw kunai next year." Sasuke cheered.

Sakura couldn't help but notice Itachi's smile almost every time Sasuke spoke. It was clear to her that Itachi loved Sasuke very much, even though she had spent just over an hour with the two.

"I'm not looking forward to sparring. I'm not very good at fighting." Sakura informed the Uchiha present. "My leg-"

"Her legs are too short for her." Shisui interrupted by putting a hand over her mouth.

She was confused why he did that. She knew he didn't want her to tell others about her leg, but she thought it would be alright seeing as these people are his family.

She looked around and saw Mikoto's eyes narrow ever so slightly at Shisui - she knew he was lying - and Sasuke got off his chair and looked under the table at Sakura's legs.

"They don't look short." Sasuke told the room.

"Of course they don't look short, they _feel_ short for her." Shisui tried to cover up his lie with another lie.

"If you don't like fighting, why do you want to be a shinobi?" Sasuke asked her.

"I want to protect the people I care about." Sakura said with a flush.

"You have to fight if you want to protect others. I want to be strong like nii-san! He's the strongest person in the whole world! He's fast and quiet and can hit the bullseye with kunai every time!" Sasuke bragged.

"But Sasuke, I'm faster and stronger than Tachi-kun." Shisui insisted.

"No you're not! Nii-san is the best. Just because you say you're faster doesn't mean you are. He's younger than you, but he's stronger than you. Just wait until he's your age, he'll be so strong, you'll need him to protect you on missions." Sasuke was angry and annoyed that anyone would even dare to think that Itachi wasn't the strongest person. "You've been in the hospital more times than nii-san which means nii-san is better because he doesn't get hurt. When I become strong like him, I'll easily be able to beat you Shisui!"

Sasuke kept talking about how Itachi was better than everyone and how Shisui wasn't that good and it was grating on Sakura's nerves. She knew for a fact that Shisui and Itachi were both amazing shinobi and during their spars, she knew Itachi didn't go easy on Shisui because they both got hurt all the time. Eventually, Sakura couldn't stand hearing Sasuke keep rambling on about Itachi and she lashed out.

"Sasuke-kun, since you'll be so strong, you can protect me! I won't need to be strong if you're there. Sasuke-kun we should get married since you'll be so fast and strong and perfect." Sakura hoped that by copying Shisui, she would get Sasuke to stop talking - she even added in some high-pitched squealing for extra effect.

Sasuke's look of terror as he snapped his head towards Sakura was definitely priceless, and Shisui's laughter was the cherry on top. When Shisui's laughter died down, she could finally hear Mikoto's quiet giggles and she found the sound to be very soothing.

"D-don't do that!" Sasuke shrieked at her.

"But Sasuke-kun!" Sakura protested weakly and stared down at her hands. The longer she looked at Sasuke's expression, the more likely she would burst out laughing.

She felt something hit her forehead and her eyes zeroed in on Sasuke. He held some rice in his hand, ready for another attack apparently.

"Sasuke! Go to your room!" Mikoto yelled at her son. "You will _not_ throw food at Sakura-chan, or anyone else for that matter."

The anger from Sasuke's face immediately disappeared at his mother's reprimand and he paled. She saw that he was on the verge of tears, probably not used to getting yelled at by his mother.

"It's alright Mikoto-san, I started it by teasing him. I didn't know he would overreact so strongly." Sakura jabbed at Sasuke.

"It's still not an excuse to throw food around. Sasuke, go to your room _now_."

Sasuke sniffled and got down from his chair in a huff then ran to his room. To say that the mood at the table was somewhat awkward would be an understatement.

"It's a lovely day, what will you kids be doing today?" Mikoto broke the tense atmosphere and Sakura couldn't be happier.

"My family wants to go for a picnic later today." Sakura informed everyone. She wanted to invite Shisui but felt like she should wait until they were alone. She also wanted to invite Itachi but she could tell by his frequent glances towards Sasuke's room that he wanted to cheer up his brother.

"Oh, that sounds lovely! That gives me the idea to plan a picnic for my family in the near future. Are your parents shinobi, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's hand froze halfway to her mouth. She lowered the food back onto her plate and looked up at Mikoto.

"My mother is a travelling merchant and… my father was the same when he was still alive."

"I'm so sorry dear, I didn't mean to make you sad." Mikoto assured her.

"Her mother and cousin travel a lot, so I spent lots of time with Sakura-chan since I met her." Shisui added.

"Mama said that they would be in the village more often now that… so I won't be alone." Sakura told Shisui.

"That doesn't mean I'll stop spending time with you, it just means your family will have to deal with me." Shisui smiled at her.

When they neared the end of breakfast - after Sakura and Shisui both had second servings of course - they could hear Sasuke stomping his feet in his room. Sakura knew how a temper tantrum sounded from her experience with Takeshi. She could vividly remember her cousin throwing fits when her parents refused to take him with them when he was younger.

"I suppose we should get going, your food was as delicious as always Mikoto. Don't be shy to invite us over again." Shisui teased as he kissed Mikoto's cheek.

Sakura noticed for the first time that Shisui was as tall as Mikoto. She liked to think that he would continue to grow for a few years and soon enough he would be at least a head taller than the Uchiha matriarch.

Shisui helped clear the table while Sakura brought up her courage to thank Mikoto. She walked over to her and Itachi and looked down at her feet.

"Thank you, Mikoto-san for the food. And I'm sorry for teasing Sasuke. I just wanted… I…" Sakura wasn't sure how to politely say that she wanted Sasuke to shut up about Itachi. She personally loved Itachi and Shisui but she didn't think rambling on and on about how great they were was a good idea.

"Don't worry about that Sakura-chan, Sasuke loves his brother dearly and idolizes him maybe a bit too much." Mikoto assured her.

Itachi reached out and ruffled her hair slightly, earning a sigh and a head shake from his mother.

"I'm glad you came Sakura. I'm sure you and Sasuke will be friends… eventually." Itachi said with a smile on his face.

She looked in Sasuke's direction and hesitated. She wanted to try to be friends with him since both Itachi and Shisui treasured him but she was afraid that he wouldn't return the friendship. At least not now.

Sakura chickened out and decided that she would talk to Sasuke another day when he's not angry in order to decrease her chances of having something thrown at her.

Sakura and Shisui made their way to the front door after having said their goodbyes and Sakura almost received a face full of door. It swung open so fast that Shisui had to pull her back to save her.

The man that walked in looked very unpleasant and too serious for her liking. He seemed to have a permanent frown. She deduced that this man was Itachi's father - she knew that Itachi only had a mother, a father and a brother - and that he was scary.

"Itachi, Shisui, there's a clan meeting in five minutes at… the usual place." He finished when he saw Sakura standing there.

He dismissed her casually and walked towards the kitchen swiftly. Sakura's heart was beating very quickly and she tried to calm her breathing as best as possible. She looked towards Shisui - his smile usually helped her relax - but only noticed his tense shoulders and frown on his face. She slowly grabbed his hand and squeezed, breaking him out of his trance.

"I can bring you home quickly Princess. I don't want you walking home alone when you don't have your crutches." He said.

Sakura only nodded and let Shisui pick her up. He quickly ran on the rooftops to get to her house as quickly as possible.

"Can you come to my family picnic today?" She asked Shisui, hopeful.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to, but I would love to. I'll try my best to come see you later today." He promised but the dread in his voice was enough for her to know that he may be busy all day with clan related things.

* * *

He was _not_ happy. Hell, he wasn't happy before the day-long meeting had started and the ridiculous ramblings during the meeting did _not_ help his mood whatsoever. He and Itachi would have to meet up with the Hokage to update him of the recent developments.

It seemed that the Uchiha clan was going to call a meeting with the Hokage and council, demanding that the Uchiha be given more field missions, positions in ANBU and the police funding that was originally offered except only one non-Uchiha would get a position and the Uchiha clan would be allowed to have a say in the decision.

Shisui wanted to throttle some of the Uchiha elders who thought the village was purposely preventing Uchiha from entering ANBU rank. He knew for a fact that only the best shinobi managed to enter ANBU and, if he was being honest with himself, very few Uchiha were capable of meeting the ANBU requirements.

Just because the Uchiha could unlock the Sharingan didn't mean they were all elite shinobi. It took a lot of practice to be able to look for and react to enemy movement. If an Uchiha didn't have good reaction speed, going toe to toe with a taijutsu user certainly did not guarantee the Uchiha to win.

Unfortunately, many of his clansmen did not see it as such. In their minds, possessing the sharingan automatically made them an elite shinobi.

Fugaku tasked Itachi and Shisui to document the Hokage and council's reaction and thoughts once he had demanded an audience with them. Shisui had even offered to help the Uchiha that wanted to become ANBU with training but most of them scoffed at him and assured everyone that they were very capable shinobi.

After the meeting Fugaku ordered both Shisui and Itachi to help sway the Hokage into taking more Uchiha clansmen into ANBU. Itachi noted that the Uchiha would be given missions and spars to determine if they were on par with current ANBU members.

It was when Fugaku mentioned Akio's failure at being a shinobi by succumbing to a slight cold which ultimately caused his death while being in ANBU, did Shisui's killer intent spike out. Fugaku was only a few words away from Shisui attacking him when Itachi diffused the situation by jabbing his cousin in the ribs.

Itachi played his part of the loyal son and heir and offered to teach Shisui a lesson in his father's place. Shisui knew Fugaku did not take kindly to threats but demeaning Akio to make his weak clansmen look better was not the right way to show superiority.

Shisui stood across from Itachi, still seething from his uncle's words when they began their spar. He knew the role he had to play and purposely left openings in his defense and attacks to allow Itachi to get hits in. They had practiced this many times, in case someone would be watching them. Itachi was to teach Shisui a lesson by beating him bloody. Shisui knew Itachi hated hurting others but they both knew it was better this way.

Shisui mentally apologized to Sakura that he would be stuck recovering in the hospital the next day instead of spending time with her.


	20. Chapter 20

**New chapter out already! I think I managed to write this pretty quickly. I try to explain and set up how this world works and how Shisui is a a character.**

 **I don't have much to say, except I hope you enjoy the story, and that I absolutely love all the reviews I'm getting. They bring a smile to my face and encourage me to write more.**

 **Next chapter will start getting more interesting!**

* * *

She didn't understand how it happened. She had seen them spar before and no major injuries were ever sustained, until now. It was hard for her to believe Itachi had hurt Shisui bad enough for him to be hospitalized. She wished she was strong enough to hurt Itachi as much as he hurt Shisui, but that was an impossible dream for her.

Sakura and Takeshi visited Shisui every day, and this time, Sakura had insisted that they bring him some home cooked food. Unfortunately, as soon as she opened the door to Shisui's room, she saw Itachi. Thankfully, Takeshi was carrying the food because Sakura lost it. She ran to Itachi, trying her best to punch him and push him away from Shisui.

"Get away from him you bastard! What kind of _friend_ breaks someone's arm that's already broken!" Sakura had tears in her eyes and didn't stop hitting Itachi.

She thought she caught a glimpse of sadness in Itachi's eyes but she didn't believe it. She thought she knew Itachi, he had always been caring to everyone but maybe he was just pretending when she was around.

"Princess, please stop. It's not Itachi's fault." Shisui pleaded.

"Then whose fault is it?" Sakura yelled and stopped her assault long enough to give Shisui her full attention.

Shisui hesitated and glanced at Itachi, almost looking for approval, but Itachi didn't move a muscle.

"It was an accident." Shisui lied.

Sakura didn't believe a word that was said. It was the first time she felt like Shisui was lying to her and it hurt her. She didn't know why he would lie to her, but then it clicked; he was lying because Itachi was there.

She thought back to how convinced Sasuke was that Itachi was better than Shisui and she didn't like the fact that there may be a truth to his statements.

She looked up at Shisui, tears still running down her cheeks, and tried to smile.

"You don't have to be scared of Itachi. I can go tell the Hokage that he hurt you badly. Maybe the Hokage can do something. I can tell everyone that Itachi is a meanie…" she trailed off.

Truthfully, she didn't think any of what she said would amount to anything but she was grasping at straws. She just wanted Shisui to be safe.

"Sakura-chan, can I speak with you in private." Itachi asked.

Her heart stopped and terror flooded her senses. She didn't trust Itachi to not hurt her, and she couldn't do anything if he attacked her. She looked at Itachi and backed up until she hit the wall.

She felt cornered like the night her leg was shattered, there was nothing she could do and a bad guy was walking towards her so he could hurt her. She saw the man with blue eyes - the object of many of her nightmares - as he approached her. She tried to scream but her voice betrayed her.

She fought back when she felt arms around her, but to no avail. Her legs gave out from under her and, had the arms not been holding her, she would have crumpled to the ground.

"Kura-chan, it's alright. I'm here, I'll protect you."

Sakura blinked rapidly and her tormentor was gone, she saw that Itachi had taken a few steps back to give her space. She took deep breaths - she had started holding her breath at some point - greedily taking in as much oxygen as possible.

She finally noticed that Takeshi was holding her close to him, rubbing her back in a soothing motion which helped her calm down immensely. After a few minutes, she was calm enough to look around the room and see Shisui with unshed tears.

"Who is Ikuro?" Shisui asked quietly.

Just the name sent shivers down her spine and petrified her. She didn't want to think of that man. She didn't want to think of that night. She didn't want to think of all the blood. She didn't want to remember all the screams.

"Kura-chan, why did you say that name?" Takeshi gently prodded.

She looked up at Takeshi and felt somewhat safe. He was there for her, though he couldn't protect her, he was there with her.

She looked down at her leg and gently ran a hand on it.

"He was the one…" she whispered low enough that all three boys in the room had barely heard her.

She missed Shisui and Itachi looking at each other and having an entire conversation just by reading each other's lips.

"Princess, you should go with Itachi. Takeshi can go with you, you don't have to be alone with him but, please just go." Shisui whispered just loud enough for her to hear above the pounding of her heart.

"No. I don't want to go anywhere with _him_." She spat out.

When she saw Shisui's tears fall down his cheeks, she scrambled over to him and hugged him. She didn't understand why Shisui wanted her to go with Itachi so badly, did he want her to be injured just like him?

"Please trust me, and go with Itachi. He won't hurt you." Shisui tried to reassure her.

His voice cracked and she could see he was pleading with her. She knew he wasn't lying this time and it was the only reason she nodded her head and gave Shisui one last squeeze.

"Take-kun, can you come with me?"

"Shisui, I hope you get released soon." Takeshi smiled at Shisui.

Sakura made sure to give Itachi a wide berth as she left the hospital room. She made her way out of the hospital and was confused when he didn't follow them. She tried to sense his chakra and noted that he was still with Shisui in the hospital.

It surprised her how far she could sense chakra, especially Shisui and Itachi's. She supposed she was just so familiar with those two that it was easier to sense.

They kept walking for several minutes until Sakura's chakra faltered and pain shot up from her leg when she took a step. She slowed her pace down drastically and took a few careful steps forward, testing out the pain from her shattered leg.

She almost forgot how paralyzing the pain was and it served to remind her that she would always have a handicap. On a normal day with Shisui, she would have been confident that she would overcome her injury, but it wasn't a normal day. She felt helpless and that she would never be able to advance through the ranks. She knew how strong Shisui was - not his full potential but she'd seen him spar and Akio had told her how amazing Shisui was - and to know that someone was easily stronger than him crushed her dreams.

"Kura-chan, Itachi is just up ahead." Takeshi laid a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and flinched when she noticed Itachi looking in their direction. She dreaded going to see him. She was afraid he would hurt them even more than he hurt Shisui, but she had to go see him. For Shisui.

She walked forward and winced the first step she took. Her chakra was starting to feel weird and she knew she had to stop using it. As if he could read her mind, Takeshi crouched in front of her and she climbed onto his back.

"Follow me." Itachi said curtly.

Takeshi followed him warily until they reached the Haruno household. Itachi stood there, looking at them until finally Takeshi asked him to come inside with them. To say Itachi was acting strange would be an understatement.

"Which room has a door and no windows?" Itachi asked quietly. He was speaking in a tone barely above a whisper which put Sakura even more on edge.

"No windows and a door? The downstairs bathroom." Takeshi answered slowly.

That's how all three of them ended up in the bathroom. Itachi crouched down while Sakura sat on the edge of the bathtub and Takeshi sat leaning against the bathtub.

"I can't tell you everything but I _had_ to hurt Shisui. Sakura-chan, you know I would never hurt him, but this was Shisui's idea. Shisui… is vocal about his opinions and the clan often times disagree. Shisui thought it was best if I was the one to teach him a lesson instead of my father. I fear Shisui would end up hurting my father out of rage which would ruin our... plans."

Itachi bowed to her and Takeshi, and apologized. "I'm sorry, please forgive me, I didn't want to hurt him. If you can't forgive me, I'll understand."

She was speechless. Never in a million years could she have imagined that their conversation would turn out this way.

"Why did you hurt his broken arm? Couldn't you have hurt him less?" She asked.

"Shisui was the one to tell me where to hurt him. I only did as he asked, nothing more." Itachi explained.

The guilt and regret in his voice was hard to miss. She did feel bad for jumping to conclusions about Itachi. He had never shown an ounce of hatred towards anyone, never shown any ill intent and yet, she believed that he was capable of hurting Shisui. It went against Itachi's character but she didn't doubt the physical evidence and their story.

"Why did you and Shisui lie to me just to tell me the truth now?" Sakura asked.

"No one can know what really happened. We can't talk about this out in the open where others can hear us." He explained. "Neither of you can say a word about what I told you. I am putting my trust in both of you. If someone else finds out, I am afraid of what they will do to Shisui and me."

"Shisui and I." Sakura corrected and looked at Takeshi with a smile.

"No Kura-chan, Shisui and me is correct." Takeshi chuckled softly.

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. She thought she knew when to say 'me' versus 'I' but clearly, she didn't know yet. She was startled when Takeshi ruffled her hair and couldn't help but lean into his touch.

She looked at Itachi to see him smiling at her. His soft gaze only reinforced the notion that he was one of the nicest people she had ever met.

"You'll get it right one day." Takeshi assured her, and she knew that she would rejoice.

"Can we visit Shisui again?" She asked her cousin.

"Of course we can."

"Are you coming with us to the hospital, Tachi-chan?" Sakura teased.

"I wish I could, but I have to go back home. Thank you both for listening to me and forgiving me." Itachi smiled and let Sakura tackle him into a hug - he did feel his eye twitch at the nickname though.

She noticed the difference in Itachi's shoulders when they first arrived into the bathroom and when they left; he seemed much more at ease and relaxed as they parted ways.

* * *

She was nervous even though she knew everything would be fine. She knew the quiz would cover what was taught the last few days, and she remembered it all.

It turned out to be very easy and Sakura completed the quiz first - as usual - and was able to leave early. She preferred it when the quizzes were given at the end of the day because they were allowed to leave once they finished. She had always been the first one finished and she felt giddy each time.

She laid her crutches on the ground and sat on the lone swing across from the academy entrance and waited for Takeshi. He promised to get her from school so they could go to the park together.

Sakura watched as some of the older students left. She hadn't previously paid attention to kids that weren't in their first year at the academy and she was surprised to see just how many kids attended the academy. There were several kids that had white eyes like the girl in her class, there were several kids that looked like a mix between Sasuke, Itachi and Shisui, and there were lots of kids who looked like they didn't belong to clans.

She startled a bit when she felt someone push her gently on the swing. She quickly looked back and saw that Shikamaru was pushing her with a bored look on his face but there was a slight smile creeping up.

"Thanks, Shikamaru. Do you think you did well on the quiz?" Sakura asked.

"Good enough to pass. You?"

"I think I got all of them right."

"Shikamaru you should try to be more like Sakura and put some effort into your school work." A deep voice stated from behind Shikamaru. She saw Shikamaru tense for a second and breathe out a _troublesome_.

"Dad, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that." Shikamaru drawled out.

"You'll learn to not be snuck up on eventually." Shikaku said. "You said you're a Haruno, correct Sakura?"

"Yes, sir." Sakura answered.

"I'd like it if you could come over one day. I have something that I would like to tell you."

At this, both Sakura and Shikamaru looked at the older Nara with widened eyes. This was the first time Sakura had ever seen Shikamaru surprised and show any interest in anything. She wanted to follow them home to find out what he knew but Takeshi would be arriving at the Academy at any moment.

"Let's go Shikamaru, your mother wants to go shopping with you."

Shikamaru and his father left after saying goodbye, and Sakura watched as Shikamaru walked even slower than his usual crawl.

"Sakura-chan! Did your class have a quiz too?" Ino shouted from the academy entrance.

She waited until her friend got closer before answering, not wanting to yell and gather everyone's attention. Sakura still felt a bit jealous of everyone that was able to run and she hoped it would eventually go away.

"I think I did really well on the quiz, how about you?" Sakura asked

"Hmm, I think we had different quizzes since ours was difficult, I don't think anyone except maybe Sasuke-kun and me did well." Ino surmised.

Sakura refused to think that Ino had just insulted her, instead focusing on the possibility that they had in fact gotten different quizzes.

"Takeshi-kun!" Ino yelled and Sakura turned around to see her cousin walking towards her.

Sakura watched as Ino's smile widened and she started blinking more rapidly. Ino also clasped her hands behind her back, and to Sakura, she looked like the picture of innocence.

"Hello, Ino, did you have a good day at school?" Takeshi asked.

"We had a super difficult quiz but I aced it. A lot of the kids probably failed it. How was your day, Takeshi-kun?" Ino swooned.

"It was a pretty relaxing day. Kura-chan, did you have the same quiz?" Her cousin asked her.

"We don't-"

"We probably had different quizzes since her teacher is usually nicer than mine. My teacher is very strict. Are you going to the park today, Takeshi-kun? We could play on the swings." Ino cut Sakura off and wouldn't stop staring at Takeshi.

"Umm, well, you see Ino…" Takeshi trailed off.

"We have to go back home. Mama wanted to spend time with us today." Sakura lied. She didn't like the way Ino was acting so strange around Takeshi.

Ino deflated and pouted while still looking at Takeshi. She took a few steps closer to him and Sakura didn't know what her friend was trying to do.

"Well, we could always plan to go to the park together another day, Takeshi-kun." Ino said while her cheeks flushed pink.

"I'm sure Kura-chan and I will be going to the park at some point soon. Have a good day Ino" Takeshi concluded and extended his hand to Sakura.

Sakura watched as Ino's hand twitched towards Takeshi's for a moment but ultimately fell back at her side. Sakura bid Ino goodbye but didn't receive a response from her friend until they had walked 20 steps.

When she arrived home, she promptly dragged Takeshi inside to start her questioning.

"What happened with Ino back there? Why was she acting all weird? You looked like you didn't want to talk to her."

"I think she likes me." Takeshi answered.

Of course Ino would like him, he was one of the best people she knew. Only weird people wouldn't like him.

"I think she actually has a crush on me." Takeshi added.

"A crush? So, she like-likes you like she like-likes Sasuke? She _did_ look at you the same way she looks at him, and she was being very weird." Sakura pondered out loud.

"I don't think a girl has ever had a crush on me before. I don't know what to do!" Takeshi exclaimed.

"What's wrong Takeshi?" Sakura's mother asked as she entered the living room.

She had gotten used to her parents no longer calling her cousin 'Takeshi-kun' since they wanted their clients to take Takeshi seriously while they were talking business. The few times they had referred to him as Takeshi-kun, the clients dismissed him and thought it was adorable that he was helping his parents with adult matters.

"Ino has a crush on Takeshi!" Sakura blurted out.

Her breath left her as Takeshi picked her up and playfully threw her onto the couch. Sakura giggled and threw a pillow at her cousin as retaliation.

"Oh my! Sakura-chan, how would you like to have Ino as a sister? When Takeshi marries her, she will be part of the family." Mebuki teased.

Takeshi froze immediately and turned his head to face Mebuki with horror in his eyes. Unfortunately, he failed to see Sakura throw a second pillow and it hit him square in the face.

"I think it's adorable that Ino-chan has a crush on you. It's about time the girls notice how handsome you are." Mebuki complimented.

Sakura loved seeing Takeshi's entire face turn as red as a tomato. She rarely saw him flustered and, if she was being honest with herself, it was immensely entertaining. She waited until he buried his face in a pillow before she offered him a possible solution.

"I know a lot of girls do the same to Shisui and Itachi, maybe they could help you. I didn't know that so many girls have crushes on them." Sakura offered.

Takeshi's head sprung up and she could see the hope in his eyes.

"Where are they now?" He pleaded.

"I think they have a clan meeting or something tonight." Sakura pouted.

"They seem to have a lot of those lately. I never knew clans kept everyone so busy, though I would love to be a fly on the wall at one of these meetings to know what they discuss." Mebuki bemused.

"I don't like his clan; they keep him busy all the time. He's still a kid." Sakura complained.

"In the eyes of the village, a shinobi child becomes an adult _much_ faster than a civilian child. Now that I think of it, you two will probably become adults at the same time." Mebuki stated.

"That means Takeshi-kun and Ino-chan could get married sooner!" Sakura yelled and smiled at her cousin. She didn't regret her teasing even when two pillows came flying towards her.

* * *

She was in love. In love with two different boys but that didn't matter. She figured she would eventually have to decide, but until then she would love them both equally. Though she had the advantage with Takeshi-kun since he was her best friend's cousin, she would eventually gain Sasuke-kun's attention and maybe both boys would chase after her at the same time.

It was a dream that Ino wished would come true. They both looked so different yet they were both so good looking. Sasuke-kun had that cool personality but Takeshi-kun had the best smiles. If she was forced to choose between them, she didn't know who she would choose.

She had missed the morning classes since she had her annual checkup with the doctor. Her father offered to walk her to the Academy but she refused, wanting to prove to her parents that she was growing up and could walk there on her own.

As she neared the Academy, the first thing she spotted was Sasuke-kun sitting by a tree, reading a book. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest due to her excitement. As she rounded the corner, she saw a group of girls not too far from him - it was the group of girls she usually ridiculed for thinking that Sasuke-kun would pay attention to _them_ when she knew he would fall for her.

As she got closer, she noticed that Sasuke-kun was looking in a different direction than the gaggle of girls. What she saw made her heart stop.

Sakura-chan. Her best friend was acting just like the other girls and was looking at Sasuke-kun. And he was looking back at her. She was by herself and it was obvious she was trying to get Sasuke-kun's attention, and it had worked.

Ino felt the betrayal hit her like a kunai to the heart. Had Sakura-chan liked Sasuke-kun all along? The only thing Ino knew was that she didn't want to see her best friend that day.

* * *

"Mama did you start dinner?" Sakura yelled as she entered her house.

"I'm just about to start, what's wrong?" Mebuki asked.

"Nothing's wrong, but we got invited to the Uchiha house for dinner."

"Oh. Well that's good to know, I'll just make enough for myself then. It's good timing since I don't feel like cooking tonight, maybe I can get something in town then." Mebuki thought out loud. "Do you know when you'll be back?" Her mother asked.

"No, no, Mama, all three of us got invited." Sakura snickered.

She watched her mother's brow scrunch up in thought.

"All three? That's interesting, did Shisui tell you this? And where's Takeshi?"

"Shisui and Takeshi picked me up from the Academy and Shisui invited us. They're walking around town together now so Shisui can give Take-kun some advice on girls." Sakura laughed out loud.

"Don't tease him _too_ much. You know he'll pay you back tenfold as soon as a boy shows any interest in you." Her mother reminded her.

Sakura wasn't worried about that; she doubted any boy would be interested in her when Ino was around.

Sakura had agreed with the two boys that they would meet up at the Academy to walk to the Uchiha compound together. The walk to the Academy with her mother was blissful. She rarely spent time with just her mother lately but she noticed that their relationship had gotten much better ever since her father died.

Sakura believed it was because her mother finally agreed to let her pursue a shinobi life and no longer provided any snide remarks. What Sakura failed to realize was how death affected both of them.

Mebuki didn't want to have a strained relationship with her only daughter - Takeshi counted as one of her own - while Sakura had finally started acting herself around her mother.

Sakura had never teased Takeshi in front of her mother before nor did she ever really share anything shinobi related with her either. Ever since her father's death, Sakura had started sharing more of her life, goals and thoughts with her mother.

Six months ago, Sakura would have hesitated to hold hands with her mother, but now she openly seeked that contact.

Sakura also learned a lot about her mother in the last few months. Her mother was similar to her father when it came to teasing; they both loved to tease. Sakura hadn't been on the receiving end of the teasing...yet, but she knew one day she would be and she felt a strange sort of happiness and eagerness for that day.

As they neared the Academy, Sakura felt a flicker of chakra behind her. At first, she ignored it but the memory of Shisui and Itachi telling her about their game came to mind and she turned around to see Shisui just a few steps away from her.

"Seems I have to hide my chakra better if I want to surprise you, Princess."

"Shisui, you startled me." Mebuki exclaimed.

"Sorry I was trying to sneak up on Sakura-chan, but she's too good." Shisui replied sheepishly

"I didn't know you would start sneaking up on me. That means I can try to sneak up on you too!" Sakura stated and hugged Shisui.

They reached the Academy and saw Takeshi standing there, waiting patiently.

"Did you surprise her, Shisui?" Her cousin asked.

"No, I will soon though, that's a promise!"

* * *

Sakura held her breath as Shisui knocked on the door. She wasn't used to being invited to other people's home for a meal, in fact the brunch had been the second time - the first time was when she had eaten with Ino, Shikamaru and Choji - not counting her aunt and uncle of course.

Mikoto answered the door again and greeted them. Once inside the two adults went to the kitchen and the kids went to the living room where Itachi and Sasuke were talking.

As soon as Sakura entered the living room, Sasuke's eyes widened and he pointed a finger at her harshly.

"You! You… you… you… meanie!" Sasuke yelled, startling everyone else.

Sakura knew exactly what he was referring to and couldn't help smile. She would never blame Shisui but his habit of teasing people had rubbed off on her.

"What happened, Sasuke? I can't picture Sakura-chan ever being mean to anyone." Shisui stated confidently.

"She.. Copied the girls in my class!" Sasuke continued yelling and pointing at Sakura.

Shisui scratched the back of his head, Itachi looked back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura and Takeshi just stood there with a smile on his face.

"Oh! Do you mean she swooned over you like your fangirls?" Shisui exclaimed with barely contained laughter.

"Yes!" Sasuke concluded.

At this, both Sakura and Shisui couldn't stop laughing and Shisui even had to lean onto a wall to keep from falling. Sakura explained to Takeshi what had happened and her cousin tried his best to stifle his laughter

"I'm s-sorry, Sasuke, I didn't mean it, I won't do it again at school." Sakura offered.

Sasuke looked at her suspiciously but eventually lowered his finger and gave a small nod.

"Shisui was helping me on how to deal with girls who have a crush on me, perhaps he could help you too, Sasuke." Takeshi stated.

"Shisui has fangirls? Hn, I doubt it. I know Nii-san has lots, but he just ignores them. It's hard to ignore them when they're always there." Sasuke admitted.

"Shisui _does_ have fangirls! Stop thinking Shisui isn't good and that Itachi is better at everything." Sakura defended.

"But he _is_ better than Shisui! He can beat him when they spar!" Sasuke yelled.

"Alright you two, enough! Itachi is better than me at some things and I'm better than him at others. Leave it at that and stop bickering like an old married couple." Shisui said sternly yet somehow jovially.

Sakura turned her back to everyone, not wanting to look at anyone after having been scolded. She didn't think Sasuke was a bad kid, he just wouldn't shut up about how much better Itachi was than Shisui and for some reason, being around Shisui made her bold and confident.

"Itachi and I decided that Sasuke and Sakura-chan have to go play together while the three of us talk. Have fun!" Shisui said quickly and dragged Takeshi and Itachi into another room, leaving Sakura with Sasuke.

She felt a bit abandoned by Shisui but she knew he was doing it to help her, though she wasn't sure how exactly. She turned to Sasuke who was staring wide-eyed at his brother's retreating back.

"Sasuke-kun, what do you like playing?" She asked timidly.

"I like to train with my brother." Sasuke pouted and crossed his arms.

Sakura rolled her eyes and figured she would have to be the mature one. "When Itachi isn't home, what do you play with other kids?"

When Sasuke refused to speak and just sit there, she decided to sit near him until he wanted to say something. The two sat side by side, Sasuke looking in the opposite direction of Sakura, and Sakura looking at Sasuke.

After a few minutes of absolute silence, Sakura decided that she should at least try to be civil with him and maybe become friends.

"You really like Itachi don't you?"

"Of course! He's the nicest, strongest and smartest person in the world and I want to be just like him when I'm older." Sasuke exclaimed.

"I know Itachi is strong but Shisui is strong too."

"He's not as great as Itachi."

Sakura's eye twitched and she tried to think of a different approach to explain to Sasuke that Itachi and Shisui were equal.

"What's your favourite food?" She asked.

"Tomatoes!"

"Would you get annoyed if I kept telling you that syrup-coated anko dumplings are way better than tomatoes? What if I never stopped talking about them?" She asked earnestly.

"I would tell you to shut up because you were getting annoying." Sasuke responded harshly.

Sakura was about to make the comparison for Sasuke but Mikoto and her mother chose that specific moment to announce that dinner was ready.

Sakura stood up and extended her hand for Sasuke, at which he hesitated but eventually grabbed it. The two made their way to the dining room and sat down.

The seven of them - Sakura was overjoyed that Itachi's father was absent - ate in relative silence, only occasionally asking questions.

"How often do you travel out of town for business, Mebuki?" Mikoto asked curiously.

"Well we used to travel more frequently, probably once a month for a few weeks at a time, but we've just recently decided to cut that back to once every two months for several days. At least that's our plan, if needed, we'll travel more often." Mebuki explained.

"It must be so nice to get out of the village every once in a while." Mikoto sighed.

"Well, if you'd like to join us one day, it wouldn't be a problem." Mebuki offered.

"Oh, I'm not sure if I could leave my family alone for several days." Mikoto admitted.

"The offer is always there; in case you change your mind."

By the end of the meal, everyone was relaxed and enjoying their evening. Unfortunately, a knock at the door interrupted them and Itachi, being the dutiful son that he is, answered the door for his mother.

When he returned into the dining room, he immediately motioned for Shisui to follow him. Sakura instantly assumed that they had another mission, but she hoped she was wrong. They returned shortly after and informed everyone that they would be out of town for the following week.

"Shisui, make sure you don't slow down nii-san or get in his way. He can't protect you _all_ the time, you should just get better." Sasuke lectured Shisui.

"We both do our part of the mission. We work as a team, we probably have the best teamwork in the village. And besides, we're each going on a solo mission." Shisui exasperated.

"I bet you take the easier part of your missions and leave the difficult part-"

"Sasuke, shut up you're getting annoying." Sakura interrupted Sasuke.

He stared at her with narrowed eyes and looked offended. She hoped he would clue in as to why she said what she did.

"Sakura-chan! Don't be so rude to Sasuke-kun." Her mother scolded her and turned to Mikoto to apologize.

"It's fine, I deserved it." Sasuke mumbled.

"No, you didn't deserve it. Sakura-chan, you will apologize to him." Her mother ordered.

"I told her to tell me that if I was mean to Shisui." Sasuke added.

Sakura understood him and smiled at him. Perhaps they would be able to get along after all.

* * *

"Do you like Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura almost choked on her food. She was sitting across from Ino at a picnic table during their lunch break and her best friend had been quiet all day.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked for clarification.

"Do you like Sasuke-kun?" Ino repeated.

That wasn't really any clearer than the first time Ino asked it but Sakura noticed Ino's worried expression and knew she had to answer quickly.

"No, I barely know Sasuke. I don't know why all the girls like him." She answered truthfully.

That was clearly the wrong answer because Ino grabbed her food and stormed off, leaving a bewildered Sakura staring at her back.

Was Ino hoping she would also like Sasuke? It made no sense to Sakura, wouldn't Ino prefer to not have to fight her best friend to win over Sasuke?

Sakura sat there until Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru sat beside her. The three managed to distract her enough with their silly stories that she temporarily forgot about Ino for a while.

"Umm… can I join you guys?"

Sakura and Kiba turned around to find Naruto standing behind them and Sakura immediately moved over to make him some room. He hesitantly sat down and after a few awkward moments of silence, Kiba started telling everyone how the new dog litter managed to turn the Inuzuka household upside down in a matter of minutes.

When the bell rang, Sakura hurriedly hugged all her friends at the table before walking back to class. She never thought she would have so many friends and, in a way, she was glad that Ino stormed off. She didn't think the four boys would have joined her if Ino had stayed, especially not Naruto.

She spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what had made Ino angry but she couldn't figure it out for the life of her. She built up the courage to ask Ino about it after classes and made sure to be the first one out the door so she wouldn't miss her friend.

She stood outside the Academy entrance and waited. She finally saw Ino's blonde hair and Sakura took a deep breath, ready to get answers.

She didn't count on Ino running past her, so Sakura stood there with tears in her eyes and watched as Ino glanced back towards her once she was sufficiently far enough.

She felt defeated and alone, the worst part was that she didn't know what she did to anger Ino. She really hoped she wouldn't lose her first friend, and figured she could hopefully approach Ino the next day.

Sakura spotted Shikamaru walking with his father and started walking towards them. Perhaps she would be able to find out what he wanted to tell her.


	21. Chapter 21

**ANOTHER quick update!**

 **This chapter basically wrote itself, next chapter is in the works as we speak/read!**

 **I don't want to say anything and give spoilers but lots of important things in this chapter.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review :D**

* * *

She sat there, unblinking as she listened to Shikaku. She didn't know what to expect when he had first said he wanted to speak with her, but she was glad that he had decided to speak to her.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Sakura asked quietly.

She watched him sigh and take another sip of his sake. "As you know, your father was killed in a training accident. The Uchiha police in conjunction with a handful of the jounin commander's carefully selected shinobi conducted an investigation. As it turns out two newly promoted jounin were sparring in the training ground with poison coated kunai. They claimed to be unaware of the poison's effect and didn't bother to contact the Intelligence department for a qualified shinobi to supervise the spar, as is dictated by law. They have since been demoted to genin, and will have to wait five years before being allowed to take part of the chunin exams. I know it doesn't change the fact that their idiocy made you lose someone, but I thought you may want to know that at least _some_ justice has been served."

Sakura couldn't remember much of what happened after she had understood what Shikaku told her until she lay down in bed that night. The rest of her day seemed to have simply passed her by.

She had never known that shinobi could be demoted, it was the first time she had ever heard of such a case, but it made her feel better yet terrified at the same time. What if her leg would prevent her from progressing past chunin and she would get demoted to a genin.

Despite Shisui's confidence in her, it was now a very real possibility that she would be a genin for life and she didn't think she could deal with that humiliation. She now had an additional reason to be able to run by the time she made genin.

* * *

Walking around the village with Itachi was always strange; girls didn't know who to fawn over and would often times try to get both their attention. He was thinking that they should both apply a genjutsu on themselves to change their appearance when off duty and not training just to get some peace and quiet but Itachi refused.

The meeting with the council and the Uchiha clan went relatively peaceful, as there was no bloodshed. They _did_ learn that Danzo was the one who initially suggested that the Uchiha police be given more funding with the stipulation that five non-Uchiha members join the force. The biggest caveat was that Danzo himself would be choosing the five members.

Fugaku had been present at the meeting and had brought up wanting to have several Uchiha members try out for ANBU. When he was told by the Hokage that an application was first required in order for each candidate to be reviewed, the head of the Uchiha clan actually scoffed.

After much arguing and childish name calling, the Hokage relented and agreed to have open tryouts for the Uchiha clan. Fugaku promptly regretted his decision when the Hokage chose Kakashi to be the opponent that each candidate had to spar for their evaluation.

Shisui knew Fugaku was hoping he or Itachi would be the ones to fight the candidates but secretly, Shisui was relieved they wouldn't be. They would have been put in a very delicate position; the Uchiha clan would want them to go easy on the candidates to ensure their promotion to ANBU.

"Shisui! Itachi!"

Both boys turned to see Genma walking towards them with a smile.

"Are you two busy tonight? There's a bunch of us going out to the bar later."

"I may be able to stop by if my father is in a good mood." Itachi responded, though Shisui knew that meant Itachi wouldn't be going. Shisui knew Itachi disliked hanging out in crowded places and cursed him that he always had an excuse in the form of Fugaku.

"I'll try to make it." Shisui forced out his answer. Truth be told, he didn't really want to go because that meant possibly forming a better bond with others which would potentially hurt him later.

He knew he was a hypocrite when he told Sakura he always tried to be positive in life, he just didn't want her to turn out like him.

"It's just a few of us; Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, Raido and Aoba have confirmed." Genma listed off.

"Kurenai, hn." Itachi spat out.

"Yeah, the only thing I ask is that everyone's civil." Genma said with a strained smile.

"No guarantees I can make it, all depends how my day goes." Shisui amended his answer.

"Fair enough, I do hope both of you can make it."

Genma took his leave, seemingly in a rush as he took to the rooftops and sped off.

Kurenai had left a sour taste in their mouths, but more so Itachi than him. His cousin wanted absolutely nothing to do with the chunin.

Shisui felt someone grab his hand from behind and he instinctively squeezed the hand, almost into a crushing hold and took out a kunai with his other hand. He spun around and his breath caught in his throat.

Sakura was looking at them with unbelievably wide eyes and he could see the fear in them. He glanced to the side and saw Itachi drop his kunai to the ground. They had both pulled a weapon on a six-year-old child who had managed to sneak up on them.

Shisui grabbed her and flickered far enough away from the busy market area where he collapsed on the ground and waited for his heart to slow the hell down. They were in their village, yet both he and Itachi had pulled out their weapons, ready to attack.

Itachi joined them and slowly approached Sakura, not wanting to scare her any more than they already had. They both sat there in complete shock and watched as Sakura started to cry.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan." Itachi managed to breathe out first.

Shisui blamed the adrenaline, but he couldn't help but laugh. After a minute or so, he noticed that Sakura stopped crying and was now looking at him like he was crazy.

"On the bright side, you managed to sneak up on both of us. I swear I didn't sense your chakra _at all._ " Shisui spoke between bouts of forced laughter, trying to cheer her.

"Neither did I." Itachi said quietly with a startling realization.

"It was instinct, Princess, only really good shinobi have managed to sneak up on us." Shisui complimented.

She recoiled when Shisui extended his arm towards her, so he quickly gave her some space. He stayed on the ground and watched as she stood up and walked away from them. Neither Shisui or Itachi made a move to stop her.

He spent the next two days trying to see Sakura, but she simply stayed home and when he asked to see her, either Takeshi or Mebuki would answer the door and tell him she wanted to spend time with family.

After the fourth time he visited, Takeshi stepped outside and shut the door behind him.

"She'll come see you when she's ready. She also feels guilty." Takeshi informed him.

"G-guilty, why? She did nothing wrong." Shisuy stuttered.

"She thinks it's her fault for almost getting ki… hurt. She shouldn't have grabbed your hands."

"Please tell her it is _not_ her fault. We couldn't sense her chakra at all, and I guess it was instinct to attack." Shisui said quietly.

Takeshi smiled and Shisui couldn't bring himself to reciprocate. He slowly walked away from Sakura's house aimlessly; he wasn't sure how to spend his afternoon. He usually spent his free time with Sakura and thoroughly enjoyed it, so he did the next best thing, he quickly went home to get a book then sat down on the bench near Sakura's house.

He was so engrossed in his novel that he never heard the front door open and close, he only felt the slight chakra flare near him.

He turned to see Sakura standing just outside his reach and he winced regretfully. Her eyes were red and puffy but they kept looking at the ground.

"Princess, I'm _so_ sorry." Shisui began.

"What book are you reading?" She said quickly, changing the subject.

He wouldn't push her if she didn't want to talk about it. "It's a story about a ninja who gets hired by a secret organization to assassinate the country's leader. It turns out the ninja is the country leader's brother and they plan a way to get the money and fake the leader's death but things go wrong quickly. It's my favourite book, my parents gave it to me as a birthday present."

She walked over and sat down beside Shisui on the bench with her hands clasped together. He could spot her nervousness by her constant fidgeting and he just wanted to get her to be relaxed, so he slowly lifted his hand and rested it on top of her head.

"When do you leave for your mission?"

"First thing tomorrow morning for me, and Itachi leaves tomorrow afternoon. It's a bit strange how we both have concurrent solo missions." Shisui admitted.

"Can you stay over tonight?" She asked meekly.

Hope bloomed in his heart and he was so happy that things would be alright between them.

"Of course. I'm going close to Suna for my mission, I was thinking of bringing you back a surprise if I can find the perfect thing." He had wanted to surprise her when he arrived from his mission but he didn't like keeping surprises from her.

Suna was known for its poisonous plants, and Sakura could always use another book.

* * *

"I'm finally safe!" Takeshi exclaimed happily as soon as he ran into the house and shut the door behind him.

"Safe?" Sakura asked.

"From your friend! She spotted me walking in the market and basically clung to me the rest of the way. She's a persistent one, that's for sure." He complained.

Sakura, Shisui and Mebuki - who had rushed over to see what the commotion was about - laughed until Takeshi finally joined in. Mebuki tried her best to stifle her laughter but couldn't manage.

"She means well but… she's a bit too intense. I'm sure she'll grow out of it one day, but I hope she doesn't have a crush on too many boys until then, it feels like shell chase them away." Takeshi admitted.

"She's the most confident person I know. I hope one day I'll be just as great as she is." Sakura stated.

"Kura-chan, you are an amazing person, don't feel the need to compare yourself to others. Ino may be more confident, but you don't drive people away by being overbearing. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."

Though Sakura valued her cousin's words, she also knew kids usually stayed away from her for some reason.

"I'll tell you what, Princess, when you beat Ino in a spar when you're a genin, I'll teach you a jutsu of your choosing." Shisui offered.

She was looking forward to becoming a genin. With Shisui helping her, she would become just as amazing as him. She also wondered what the other kids in her class would be like as genin.

"A jutsu of my choosing? I have six years to plan for the perfect jutsu to learn, and it'll be the most awesome jutsu ever! Is there a jutsu that makes me instantly win against any enemy?" She asked.

"If there was such a jutsu, I would love to learn it, or just a jutsu that prevents all fighting in the world. My eyes actually do something similar, it's how I got the doctor to release you from the hospital the first time." Shisui explained.

"Why are your eyes red sometimes?" Sakura asked.

"My clan is able to unlock the sharingan, which is pretty awesome. It gives us the ability to see what people are going to do in taijutsu, we can see people forming chakra which lets us copy jutsu pretty easily, and helps out with genjutsu. It enhances the genjutsu we cast and is easier for us to break out of them. There's also an upgraded version we can unlock under certain circumstances, and everyone gets a new ability. Mine is that I can basically mind control someone."

Sakura stared with wide eyes as she absorbed all that information. It seemed very unfair that only the Uchiha clan had such an amazing gift.

"There's a girl in my class that has white eyes. I thought she was blind but, does she have special eyes too?"

"Yes, she has the byakugan. There are several different dojutsu in the world, and they're all pretty powerful. You'll learn about them at some point, I'm guessing in your second or third year at the Academy."

"What about Ino? She doesn't have any pupils on her eyes."

"No, there is no dojutsu in the Yamanaka clan, that's just how their eyes are."

Sakura stayed silent for a while, digesting all the information. She was fascinated with the sharingan and was curious to understand it better. She also wondered if the sharingan was what made Shisui and Itachi so much stronger than most.

"Can we spar?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Shisui startled at the question but quickly recovered with a smile.

"Sure, did you want to join us Takeshi, I can teach you a bit of self defense."

Takeshi hesitated, and Sakura knew he never wanted to hurt anyone. She would pressure him to join them if he refused, she could send Ino after him as a threat.

"I'm not sure, I don't want to have to hurt anyone." Takeshi said.

"Don't think of it as hurting someone, think of it as protecting yourself or someone you love. What would you do if someone attacked you or threatened to hurt Sakura? Would you just sit and wait for him to do it?" Shisui reasoned.

"I suppose when you put it that way, it justifies hurting others." Takeshi conceded.

The three went outside in the yard and Sakura's heartbeat sped up. She knew Shisui wouldn't hurt her but this would be the first time she ever threw a punch. She didn't know the most effective way to fight so she just charged at Shisui and started flailing her arms at him.

After a dozen or so punches, Shisui stopped her. "Don't swing your arms in such a wide circle, it takes a while for it to reach your opponent and they can anticipate it. Do direct punches, use the fastest way to your target in a straight line."

She took his corrections to heart and adjusted her punching method. She wasn't hitting hard because her stance was rigid due to her leg, but she was getting some pointers down at least.

"Also, make sure you open your eyes when you attack. Once you can stand on your leg more easily, you'll be able to add weight to your punches. You can always practice punching a tree or a log to get better. Your turn Takeshi."

Sakura was out of breath after throwing so many punches, and she enjoyed the slight break Shisui had granted her. Truth be told, she was looking forward to training with Shisui when she was able to, there were so many things he could teach her.

She looked on as Takeshi lunged and jumped at Shisui and tried his best to land a hit. Takeshi looked almost as graceful as Itachi and it made Sakura jealous. She doubted she would ever be graceful when fighting.

"Mama, come sit with me!" Sakura half shouted when her mother stepped outside.

The two watched Shisui and Takeshi spar - rather, they watched Takeshi try his best to land a hit on Shisui - and basked in the afternoon sun.

Shisui switched things up and forced Takeshi to practice self-defence in case someone attacked him from behind. He managed to throw Shisui off him pretty easily and Sakura thought that with some training, Takeshi could be a good shinobi.

"Mebuki, come and attack me."

Her mother startled beside her and denied Shisui's offer, until Sakura and Takeshi both insisted that she learn from the best.

After a few hours of sparring, the four collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky. It was a cloudless sky and birds were chirping happily. It was at that moment that Sakura decided to tell her family and best friend what Shikaku had told her.

"I didn't know shinobi could get demoted." Takeshi stated afterwards.

"In very rare cases, yes. If someone does something incredibly reckless and harms someone else, or even ignores a commanding officer's order, resulting in someone getting hurt. It's always handled on a case by case basis but this is the second time I've heard of shinobi being demoted. So, it's not common, but it does happen." Shisui explained.

"What if the commanding officer is wrong?" Sakura asked.

"That's why it's handled on a case by case basis. Typically, a senior Yamanaka is required to revisit someone's memory in order to understand what actually happened. It's a complex process, but disobeying orders or getting someone killed due to incompetence is not something that's taken lightly in this Village."

"What if I don't agree with my sensei when I'm a genin?" Sakura worried.

"The only person that can get demoted in that case is the jounin sensei, unless the genin simply refuses to do anything and gets in the way and gets his or her teammate killed. The sensei is there to train, protect and teach the genin. Plus, the missions for genin rarely involve any combat." Shisui reassured her.

With her worries slightly appeased, she rolled over next to Shisui and used his arm as a pillow. She drifted off to sleep with the sun shining on her face, surrounded by the people she loved the most.

* * *

She walked hand in hand with Takeshi, using only one crutch to help her walk, making up stories about the people they passed by: where they're going, what their profession is, their favourite foods and the places they've travelled. Shisui's real stories about the shinobi he knew inspired her to think outside the box because it seemed that anything and everything was possible.

She remembered Shisui telling her about a solo mission where a shinobi had to befriend his target in order to gain valuable information. His target had been a farmer so the shinobi showed up to work on the farm. It turned out that the shinobi managed to attract all the cows and goats on the farm. The animals would always nuzzle up to him and lick him. He had also managed to fall several times in the pile of manure that he cleaned up, which also made the pigs attracted to him. Needless to say, the shinobi had managed to develop a fear of farm animals since, supposedly, even to this day all farm animals were naturally drawn to him.

Sakura loved hearing about different missions and she made a mental reminder to ask Shisui for more stories when he came back from his mission. He was only supposed to be gone for a week, but it was possible that it would take longer, just like his previous mission.

She rounded a corner and saw Akamaru standing there looking up at her. She searched around for Kiba but couldn't spot him.

"Where's Kiba?" She asked the dog.

For some reason she expected him to speak, but when a bark and tail wag was the only answer provided, she reached down to pet him. She briefly remembered hearing dogs speak but couldn't remember where, perhaps she had dreamt it a while back.

"Akamaru!"

She heard Kiba shouting and made her way towards him with Akamaru. He was a sweet kid, though his rambunctious nature made him a bit careless at times. He was also loud. When he and Naruto got into an argument, she tried to distance herself as best as possible since she valued her hearing.

"Sakura-chan! Are you excited to see more spars today?" Kiba asked cheerfully.

Going to see the older kids spar became a regular occurrence. The majority of her class loved watching them, but it just made Sakura anxious; she wasn't sure if she'd be able to spar in less than a year.

"I'll leave you here Kura-chan, I have to head back home." Takeshi hurried and gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning around and quickly walking away.

It was very odd for him to act that way but when she turned her head and saw Ino waiting at the Academy entrance, she understood. Her cousin was scared of a child.

Kiba regaled her with tales of his family picnic and how insane it was. Everything that could go wrong went wrong which resulted in a lot of yelling and play fighting. All in all, it sounded like a typical Inuzuka outing to Sakura.

As they neared the Academy, she didn't miss Ino's reaction when she spotted her. The widened eyes and quick scurrying told Sakura that Ino wasn't ready to speak to her yet.

She ignored her feelings of guilt and sadness and walked into the classroom with Kiba at her side. She pet Akamaru on the head and saw Kiba stand there expectantly so she decided to pet him too, after all, she couldn't let Kiba be jealous of Akamaru.

She quickly went to sit with Shikamaru and Choji while Kiba stood there blinking. Sakura didn't miss the small smile that Shikamaru gave her, or Choji's offer of chips.

She loved the small gestures that her friends made and just wanted to hug them, show them she cared and appreciated them, but she couldn't get up in class and start hugging people, that would be embarrassing and would ruin her day.

She waited until everyone stood up to go watch the spars and quickly hugged and thanked both Shikamaru and Choji. She would have to get to Kiba at some point; the head pat probably didn't mean much to him so she reasoned that a hug would convey her happiness much better.

The spars were lackluster compared to Shisui and Itachi but it was to be expected. She made a mental note to ask them if she could watch their next spar and maybe see if they can give her tips on fighting.

She watched on until the boy with white eyes walked into the circle. His opponent seemed to hesitate and he glanced back to his friends frequently. The pretty boy - the boy with white eyes had the most luscious hair she had ever seen - frowned and waited for his opponent to extend his fingers into the seal of confrontation.

After a minute or so of waiting, their sensei forced the opponent to make the seal with pretty boy. The spar lasted just a few seconds after that; pretty boy was ruthless. He didn't hold back and decimated the other kid. His hand to hand combat was precise and unforgiving and he made sure his opponent went down quickly. They formed the seal of reconciliation very quickly and pretty boy went to sit down by himself.

The other kids almost seemed scared of him, and if he was anything like what he was during the spar, it made sense; he was scary. The rest of the spars looked like kids throwing random kicks and punches until one of them connected and Sakura hoped she wouldn't look so silly when she sparred the following year.

She wasn't that interested in watching the spars, but she did like being outside in the sun and being with her friends. She had been the first to sit down and the four boys didn't hesitate to join her, which made her happy. Typically, she would join Shikamaru and Choji, then Kiba would join and eventually Naruto would meander over and ask to sit with them. She never thought they would follow her and sit with her, she always thought she would have to join them.

Lunch break was right after the spars so they had all brought their food with them outside. As soon as the bell rang, Kiba and Naruto ran to the best picnic table and claimed it for the group. Shikamaru and Choji chose to walk at Sakura's pace since she had a crutch with her.

"What's going on between you and Ino?" Choji asked after they noticed Ino look in their direction then march off in a completely different direction.

"I don't know, she asked me if I liked Sasuke and when I said no, she looked angry." Sakura informed her friends who had started paying attention as soon as Choji spoke.

"Girls are hard to understand, most of the time they don't make sense." Shikamaru drawled out.

"I'm a girl." Sakura said matter-of-factly.

"You still make sense for now, I'm sure we won't understand you eventually." He explained.

"Can you let me know if I stop making sense?" She asked. _I don't want to lose any of you_.

All four said yes and she hoped they would never lose their friendship, she felt like she lost Ino and it hurt, she didn't want to know what it would feel like to lose the rest of her friends.

* * *

Nothing about his mission sounded good. He sped through the trees and felt the genjutsu set in place to hide one of Orochimaru's hideouts. He dispelled the genjutsu when he couldn't feel any chakra signature nearby and took a deep breath. He only had to confirm the location of the hideout and verify that it was not abandoned, in theory there was no need to fight.

He spent a day trying to sense any sign of life inside the base but he couldn't tell if no one was in there or if there was something that was blocking chakra sensing. Somewhat defeated, he began searching for an entrance, but it proved to be very difficult.

He spent the next two days just trying to find some kind of hint that there was a way to access the base from the outside. He pulsed his chakra through the earth to try to find any irregularities until there was a small tingle that rippled through his chakra. It numbed his hands and he had to wait several minutes to regain sensation, but at least it was a sign that he had found _something_ \- he wasn't sure what, but it had to involve Orochimaru.

He stood on top of the location he first felt the tingling sensation and looked around. There were no special landmarks that he could easily describe the location of the entrance, the trees all looked the same - spaced evenly, all the same height and width - for kilometres on end. He knew this forest was planted to look identical for a wide area, just to throw off finding this place.

Shisui was tempted to use the Hiding like a Mole technique to walk through the earth but he was afraid what would happen when he reached the origin of the tingling sensation. He assumed that his whole body could become numb while underground which wasn't a good idea, it would be safer to find another way inside, even though it could extend the mission.

After a few more days of racking his brain to figure out a way to enter, he wasn't any closer to an answer, he just knew he wouldn't return to the Village empty handed so he resolved to be there for a long time.

He started noticing that there was a large population of insects in this area which could mean something, he just wasn't sure what. There could be a jutsu or some material that attracted them more than usual and he wished he had someone from the Aburame clan with him; he was sure this mission would be done faster.

He continued his investigation for another day until he saw someone walking in the woods. There was no one else around so Shisui tried to hide his chakra even more than it already was to make sure the person wouldn't spot him; this could be his one and only chance to see where the entrance was.

He was looking so intently at the lone man that he didn't notice the insects crawling over him until one crawled on his face. He quickly got rid of the insects - he didn't know if any of them could hurt him, but he wasn't going to take the chance - but in doing so, the person disappeared.

The person didn't simply walk out of Shisui's sight, he simply disappeared. Typically, when a person uses a jutsu, the sharingan can see residual chakra but Shisui couldn't see any which would mean that no jutsu was cast. How a person simply disappear was beyond Shisui and he vowed to figure it out.

He waited several minutes and went to stand where the disappearing man stood just to find out that there was nothing special about that specific spot. He crouched down and sent some chakra through the earth again and pulled back abruptly when he felt a wall of chakra two meters below him. _I didn't feel this last time, and I swear I've stood here before. What the hell is going on here?_

He sent some chakra back through the earth but froze when the wall of chakra was now only one meter below the surface. He forced his nerves to calm down and kept sending chakra when he felt the wall move closer to the surface. As soon as there was a rumble beneath his feet, he flickered away into the trees and watched on as nothing happened.

He scratched his head and sighed in relief. He quickly ate then returned to the same spot as before and sent his chakra through the earth, but when he felt the wall of chakra reach the surface, he stood still and waited.

In the blink of an eye, he was underground. He had successfully infiltrated one of Orochimaru's hideouts yet, it didn't quite feel like a victory. If a wall of chakra allowed entry, he assumed some data was sent somewhere for someone to look at.

He silently walked through the earth corridor and pushed open a slightly ajar door and his heart stopped. In the barely lit room, there was a child grabbing their head and thrashing about, the weird thing was that the child didn't make a sound. There were no screams of agony - the contorted face indicated extreme pain - and even when the child beat his feet against the wall, there was absolutely no sound.

It was very eerie, and Shisui had to purposefully make noise to make sure he hadn't just lost all his hearing. He regretted his decision immediately when the child turned towards him and lunged. Shisui backed away quickly and saw some strange markings all over the child's skin.

Shisui saw some chakra accumulating in the child's body and gathering in his vocal chords. He had half a second's insight to get far away from the child, and he flickered as far down the hall as possible. The resulting shriek had a literal explosive quality and Shisui watched as the child's room - along with the two other closest rooms - crumbled upon impact.

"Shisui-kun, how nice of you to stop by."

The young Uchiha froze. He knew that voice and dreaded it, it was a voice that meant bad news for any Uchiha in the vicinity.

"Orochimaru." Shisui seethed.

"I didn't think they would send _you_. In fact, I was certain they wouldn't, given the nature of this mission; it's not like I haven't tried before." The snake said.

The intel given to Shisui almost guaranteed that Orochimaru wouldn't be at the hideout, there were witnesses that placed him as far away from this place as possible. There was no way anyone could travel that quickly, so Shisui knew the intel was erroneous on purpose.

"Are you now willing to give me your sharingan in order to stop the coup?"

"You will _never_ get my sharingan." Shisui spat out.

"That's what you think."

Suddenly, one of Orochimaru's lackey was standing in front of Shisui, red sharingan blazing to life. He knew it wasn't an Uchiha member, but that would mean that he transplanted a stolen sharingan into a random human.

It was a tricky fight since Shisui had to always keep an eye on Orochimaru - no one could ever trust that snake to stay back when there was something he could gain - but the test subject was clearly inexperienced with the sharingan, in fact, Shisui could still see the incision around the eye. It appeared that Orochimaru didn't have a good medic on hand when the surgery took place.

Shisui dodged and parried and blocked the test subject's attacks with ease until black markings spread across his body. Those black markings gave him a boost in speed, strength and bloodlust. His hands were striking faster and Shisui knew he had to end this fight soon so he could get back home.

The moment Shisui decided to land a killing blow with his sword was the moment Orochimaru decided to play, and blocked Shisui's attack. Fighting Orochimaru was like trying to grab hold of a snake slathered in oil, it was near impossible to succeed.

Shisui knew he had to leave as soon as possible, so he started using his body flicker technique like there was no tomorrow, but even the sharingan test subject was able to dodge all his strikes. He understood that Orochimaru would be able to dodge or tank every hit without getting hurt, but he should at least be able to take care of a no name test subject. However, when Shisui saw the test subject aim a strike for his chest and he was too slow to avoid it, he knew something was terribly wrong.

Shisui was fast and he always prided himself for it, but the more he fought the two, the more hits he took. Even though he saw the hits coming, it seemed he couldn't move his body out of the way fast enough.

He focused all his chakra into a last-ditch effort to body flicker out of the base and managed to do so but in the process, received a sword strike to chest, no doubt from Orochimaru.

He knew there was something terribly wrong; it was hard for him to focus on his run back to the Village even though the devil was on his heels. Eventually, he couldn't sense Orochimaru or his abomination following him, but he didn't feel relieved at all when he saw glimpses of shinobi with ANBU masks running through the trees with him.


	22. Chapter 22

**New chapter time!**

 **This one was hard to write, very hard, but I managed and here you go :)**

 **I love hearing your thoughts/reactions 3**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It was night time when he managed to escape Orochimaru's hideout which was the only reason he spotted the white ANBU masks running alongside him. It didn't make sense why ANBU would have been sent to help his mission - it was a solo mission, after all - but Shisui wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth, that is, until a kunai almost hit him.

The angle that it came from was definitely to the side, indicating that the ANBU had thrown it.

"What the fuck?" Shisui yelled out at the ANBU.

The ANBU all started to get closer to him, making him feel trapped, but it also let him realize that he didn't know _any_ of these ANBU members, and unless the Hokage had gotten new ANBU during his solo mission, he should have recognized a few of them.

He reached for his sword just in time to block an attack. It startled him, but at least he knew not to trust them anymore. He still felt sluggish and hoped he would make it to the Village in time, but he was worried.

Fighting one of them was taxing enough. When a second ANBU joined the battle Shisui feared for his life. Shisui could sense that the second ANBU was from the Aburame clan and as soon as he saw the insects buzzing around and crawling on him, he knew where his first mistake happened: at Orochimaru's hideout.

He had noticed an increase in the insect population but brushed it off as something unimportant - he didn't think he'd have to worry about someone from the Aburame attacking him so that thought never crossed his mind. He must have gotten bit by an insect and poisoned at that point.

Shisui's vision blurred from time to time and black spots slowly crept in; his time was running out, he needed help. He flared his chakra as best as possible but the more he accessed his chakra, the stronger a burning sensation ran throughout his body.

"Are you still of the mind that the coup can easily be stopped?"

Shisui didn't know when they had all stopped moving and fighting, but he focused on Danzo's question. Of course they would try to stop the coup.

"..." Shisui tried to speak but failed miserably, he couldn't quite understand how to make his vocal cords work.

"It is futile, even if you can force them to see the light, it will only delay the attack. You cannot protect Konoha with your plan, it will only make things worse."

Danzo sprung into action and Shisui instinctively dodged and put some distance between them. He was struggling to stay awake and aware of everyone around him. He used his body flicker technique and managed a few hits but the burning came back full force and he stumbled.

His vision was mostly blacked out and he saw ANBU approach him but his body struggled to move. He tried to force his arms to reach out and hit his opponents, but his body's responsiveness was delayed by a few seconds. He managed a lucky hit to one of the ANBU's hearts but it didn't seem to matter; another ANBU took his place at Shisui's side.

He knew he had to get away, and he tried. He focused all his chakra, trying to ignore the increasing pain that burned inside his body, but he wasn't fast enough. Chakra coated weapons pinned him down to the ground and disrupted his concentration. He quickly gathered chakra again and managed to cast a fire explosion jutsu he had been working on for the past year, a devastating attack that killed everyone, with him at the centre. The explosion caught most of them by surprise and he watched as 4 ANBU and Danzo were burned to a crisp. The only reason Shisui survive was because he has coated his body with water-based chakra. He still managed to get hurt by his own jutsu but he was still alive and that was all that mattered.

He allowed himself a quick sigh of relief while his vision blacked out for a few seconds. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Danzo standing there, unharmed. _That's impossible, I saw him, he was dead._

"That's a good expression you have there. I can't say it's the first time I've seen it though. It's strange that barely any Uchiha know of the sharingan's hidden abilities and that I have to inform their members right before their deaths. It's an ability that lets you decide what is real and isn't real. My death wasn't real. But yours will be." Danzo explained haughtily.

Shisui realized too late that he was in immediate mortal danger and by the time he sluggishly gathered his chakra for a dangerous body flicker - he was going far and wasn't sure which direction the Village was anymore - Danzo had extended his hand and forcibly removed Shisui's right eye.

He belatedly realized that the poison coursing through his veins had started to dull the pain which was the only thing he was thankful for; he didn't want to feel the pain of having an eye ripped out of its socket.

He saw Danzo reach for his other eye but his body flicker technique finally pulled through and he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. His body was becoming less responsive by the minute and he hoped an ally would stumble upon him quickly.

He tried to destroy his other eye but he barely managed to move his left hand over his eye, and when he tried to cast a jutsu, the pain prevented him from focusing on his chakra flow - it seems the poison only dulled physical pain and not the pain caused by the poison that was affecting his chakra pathways. He couldn't move, couldn't cast a jutsu and couldn't even destroy his eye. The worst part was that he would never see Itachi or Sakura ever again.

He wished he could go see them just one last time, so he could die happy, but even if he could body flicker, he had no sense of where he was; it was hopeless. His tears streaked down his face, mixing with the blood from his right eye socket and he openly cried. He wasn't crying because he was dying, he was crying because he would never get to see Itachi realize his full potential. He was crying because he was leaving the burden of stopping the coup all to Itachi, and Itachi was too selfless and would sacrifice himself too easily if it meant helping Sasuke. He was crying because he would never see Sakura's smile, never get to hug her, and never get to see her become a shinobi.

He had promised her that they would run through the trees, that he would help her every step of the way and that he would always be there for her. He hoped she would take his death well, but having seen how she took her aunt, uncle, and father's deaths, he knew she would be broken. It had taken him a while to help her through each death, and after she had lost all three, she was completely broken and, though she tried to hide it, he knew she was hurting inside all the time.

If she cared for him even remotely close to how much he cared for her… he didn't want to think of what would happen. He wished he could ask Itachi to look after her.

He resigned himself to death and figured it would be a good time to use his fire explosion jutsu without his layer of water-based chakra to see if he could get rid of his eye one way or another. He knew it would be painful even though the poison numbed him, but it was the only possible way he could think of.

He heard noises coming from somewhere around him and he tried to speed up his jutsu but failed when he tried to cast the explosion.

"Shisui! What happened?"

The worry in Itachi's voice was palpable, but Shisui couldn't help but laugh silently. He had forgotten that he wasn't able to make a sound which prompted him to cry once again.

"What's wrong? Please just say something!" Itachi said frantically.

When Shisui tried to speak again and no words came out, he looked on as Itachi's sharingan morphed into a design he had never seen before; he wasn't aware that Itachi had developed the mangekyou sharingan.

"Tsukiyomi" Itachi uttered and Shisui's world shifted to red and black.

"What is this?" Shisui asked.

He took a moment to assess his condition and noticed that his eye didn't hurt, his body didn't hurt and that he could speak. He surmised it was a genjutsu of some kind, but it looked so bizarre.

"This is my mangekyou's ability. In this world, time passes as I choose, and only one second passes in the real world." Itachi explained.

"That's pretty amazing, but when did you unlock your mangekyou?" Shisui asked curiously.

"It was during the mission with _Kurenai_ when you almost died." Itachi said angrily. "What happened tonight? Was Orochimaru there?"

"Yeah he was there, but he wasn't the problem, surprisingly enough. Danzo and his Root ANBU are the issue here. There was one from the Aburame clan and one of his bugs poisoned me before I entered Orochimaru's hideout. When I ran back to the Village with Orochimaru on my tail, they intercepted me. Danzo took my right eye, Itachi, he wanted to take my left but I managed to leave. I'm dying, I probably only have a few minutes left, if that. Take my left eye."

"Danzo?! But he knows we're going to stop the coup, what is he thinking?"

"I don't know but he doesn't think it'll work and he wants to do things his way it seems. Itachi, take my eye, we can't let him have both."

"What do you expect me to do with your eye? Transplant it? That makes no sense."

"No, I don't know what you should do, but you have to do something."

"I'll figure something out. I'll bring you to the hospital too, so you can live."

"You can try, I'm not sure I'll make the trip. If I don't make it-"

"Shut up, you _will_ make it" Itachi cut him off desperately. "Whatever you want to tell me, tell me after you wake up in the hospital."

"In case I don't make it, please look after Sakura. She'll take it hard, and I don't know what she'll do."

"You'll be able to care for her yourself, and teach her your body flicker, and all the jutsu in the world. You'll train her when she's a genin, see her become a chunin and even a jonin." Itachi reassured him weakly.

"I don't feel so good, Tachi-chan. I just want to tell you that I'm proud of you and I'm so happy to be able to call you my best friend. I'm sorry I won't be able to help you stop the coup."

Shisui watched as Itachi shed a few tears and approached him. For the first time since he had known Itachi, the young Uchiha initiated a hug. Shisui knew he had it easy; he wasn't the one that had to live on after having lost his best friend - though he had already been through that, he was glad he wouldn't have to go through it a second time.

They stayed in their final hug for several minutes as Shisui tried to comfort his cousin as best as possible.

"I wish I could see my Princess one last time." Shisui sighed.

"I'll look after her as best as possible, I promise." Itachi sniffed.

"I know you will, you're the kindest and most selfless person I know."

They sat together in silence for a while, just enjoying their time. Itachi changed the scenery so they would be looking out over the village. He even added Sakura sitting ahead of them so Shisui could see her one last time.

"You may want to keep some chakra in case you have to fight off Danzo and his followers." Shisui suggested.

The two Uchiha stood up and sighed; it was their last goodbye and strangely enough, Shisui felt at peace and ready to go. He always thought he would fight death tooth and nail, but he realized that there was nothing that could be done. If Sakura's uncle was still alive, Shisui would be more confident that an antidote could be created or the poison in his system be neutralized. Of course, that wasn't the case, and Sakura wasn't familiar enough with poisons to be of use yet.

Shisui nodded with a smile and Itachi released his tsukiyomi with unshed tears. Shisui felt Itachi lift him up on his shoulders and also felt Itachi moving from tree to tree.

He couldn't keep his eyes open for long, and when he did, his vision was filled with black spots. He couldn't feel his body at all anymore, even when he tried to channel chakra. He thought of the few times he had seen Itachi and Sakura hug and be close to each other.

* * *

He felt Shisui's body go slack when he was just a few seconds from the hospital and he hated himself. What good was he if he wasn't fast enough to save his best friend. Itachi had channelled chakra to increase his speed to the point where his body burned from having too much chakra forced through, yet it still hadn't been enough.

He didn't know what to do, but he figured he would try his luck with the medics, maybe Shisui was just in shock and they would be able to save him.

As soon as he entered, the receptionist - the same one who blushed every time Itachi went to visit someone in the hospital - called forth as many doctors as possible in order to try to save Shisui. Three doctors rushed Shisui to an operating room and Itachi stood outside the door, waiting for any news.

He noticed Kurenai leave one of the hospital rooms and hoped she wouldn't see him, unfortunately, today was not his day. He sensed her walk towards him and he focused his gaze onto the operating door, willing a doctor to rush out at any second with an update.

"Did you get too cocky and cause your teammate to get hurt?" She asked.

Itachi took calming breaths and ignored her, not wanting to get into an argument when his best friend was dead or dying in the other room.

"I hope so, because you really need an attitude adjustment. You're too confident in yourself when you still have a lot to learn." She lectured him.

He tried his best to ignore her but her words dripped venom and he knew she wanted to hurt him. Whether she was actually oblivious to his skills and just wanted him to fail, or she _knew_ the extent of his skills and just wanted to feel better about herself, he wasn't sure.

"Let's hope you didn't let him die from screwing up too badly."

Itachi stood up too quickly for Kurenai to react and activated his mangekyou. If it wasn't for Kakashi and Genma who appeared between the two, Itachi would have used tsukiyomi on Kurenai and made her suffer.

He didn't like hurting others but something inside snapped at her words. He was usually able to ignore every insult thrown his way but for some reason, she was able to rile him up so easily. It probably didn't help that he had probably just lost his best friend, and the only person who actually knew him.

"What's going on here?" Kakashi drawled out and turned a page in the orange book he was reading.

"Itachi and I were just talking when he decided to use his sharingan." Kurenai lied.

"Itachi, you're not supposed to harm a fellow Konoha shinobi, you _know_ this." Genma half-lectured, half sighed.

"That's a lie, I was sitting here and she came over and started spewing nonsense and letting her insecurities get the best of her." Itachi explained quickly and sat back down to wait for a doctor.

"You two are worse than kids, seriously just stay away from each other, that way no one will get hurt." Genma stated.

"I will continue to avoid any interaction with her, gladly."

Kurenai narrowed her eyes and stomped away. Genma and Kakashi sighed and turned their full attention to Itachi.

"I don't know why she wants to verbally attack you all the time, I'll try to talk to her tomorrow when I train her." Genma ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "What are you doing here anyways? I didn't think you had a team mission."

"Shisui's in there, he-"

Three doctors walked out of the operating room with sullen faces. Itachi waited just long enough to hear the words _'we couldn't'_ before flickering out of the hospital and running to the river near the Uchiha compound.

He sensed for any chakra signatures nearby then took out his storage scroll. He hesitated for a few seconds then focused his chakra to release the last item that he added; Shisui's eye. He had removed his cousin's eye before bringing him to the hospital, in the event that Danzo would have planted one of his followers to steal Shisui's other eye.

He stood on a cliff overlooking the river and stared at the eye in his hand. It was a strange feeling, holding a body part like that, but it was the last gift Shisui had given him. Itachi eventually summoned one of his crows and gave it Shisui's eye; it was the only way he could ensure that no one could steal it.

He watched the sun rise and kept standing there. He had never felt so alone, but it was a feeling he knew he had to get used to.

* * *

"What is your problem with Itachi?" Genma asked as she narrowly avoided one of his punches.

"What do you mean?" She asked innocently.

Genma easily blocked her own punch and threw her on the ground with ease. She knew she wasn't a powerhouse, but she was confident in her genjutsu skills. She also hated herself for not paying more attention to her declining taijutsu skills, but she was working on it now, which was a step in the right direction.

"Why do you always feel the need to throw insults at him and try to make him feel like shit."

"I told you, we were just talking when he snapped." Kurenai yelled as she created distance between the two. It was a pure taijutsu spar so she would see Genma run towards her when he wanted to attack and she could prepare a defense.

"Oh cut the shit, Kurenai, we both know that's a lie. You used to be so genuinely nice to everyone, what made you so cynical and cocky."

His words shocked her long enough for him to get a few good jabs in. She was always nice to everyone even when she didn't want to be, she always had been. For Genma to openly call her out, she wasn't sure if that was the case anymore.

"Don't act so surprised, you always try to lower others, especially if you think they're better than you, and for some reason, you want to hurt Itachi. He's a kid, and if you knew how much pressure he's under, you'd think twice before being mean to him. I agreed to train you to help your skills and attitude, I was hoping you would smarten up if you got better, but it seems you're just getting worse."

She wasn't sure what hurt more, his words or his punches. She liked to think he wasn't pulling his punches because she was getting stronger and almost on par with a jonin, but the fact that he could talk while also sparring made her doubt that.

She wasn't the only one at fault when it came to Itachi. It took two to tango and he was just as guilty as her when throwing out insults, and she told Genma just that.

Genma stopped dead in his tracks and just looked at her. He blinked and narrowed his eyes.

"On that first mission, he was being honest with you. You honestly sucked. We all had several opponents and you only focused on one enemy and didn't pay attention to anything around you. That spells death on a mission. Shisui and Itachi kept intercepting anyone who would try to attack you while you tried to fight that one guy. Then you find excuses, and blame _them_ for your lack of concentration and awareness."

"I didn't _ask_ them to intercept, I could have taken on more shinobi."

"Are you delusional? Does casting genjutsu too often affect your common sense? You would have _died_. You know what, I think I'm done training you until you snap out of whatever fucking delusional world you created for yourself."

"I'm _not_ delusional." She yelled and tried to convince him.

The next moment, she was standing alone on the training ground and she was angry. She didn't know why Genma defended the two Uchiha, but she didn't like it. He had been her friend first; he should have been on _her_ side.

"Food for your thoughts?"

She turned around and saw Asuma. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him. He had been gone from the Village a few years but was back for the time being. She knew he was planning on leaving in the next few months, even if his father - the Hokage - was against the idea.

"You always know just when to show up." She told him.

"Well, to be honest, I was watching you and Genma spar for a bit."

Her eyes widened as the realization that he heard her outburst dawned on her. She wished he hadn't seen her angry but, she supposed he would eventually.

"Can you tell me what happened on that mission? It sounds like an eventful one." He asked politely.

"Sure, I was on a team with Kakashi, Genma, Itachi and Shisui, and we got ambushed. They each broke off to fight and I had a big guy charge at me. I handled him pretty well with genjutsu but he started breaking out of the illusions before I could give the finishing blow. This lasted about two whole minutes before I managed to get him into a genjutsu then another shinobi threw kunai at me and I couldn't keep it up. It was probably one of Shisui's or Itachi's since they were closest. I fought both off for a while until Itachi finally came to get his opponent back. I wasn't impressed with him, to say the least. How did he lose track of an opponent like that? Anyways, that night I asked how I did and they just kept insulting me, saying I wasn't good enough." Kurenai pouted as she ate fried chicken that Asuma brought her.

"How many opponents was Itachi fighting at the start?"

"What do you mean? Probably one or two, why?" She assumed.

"Let me rephrase that; how many shinobi ambushed your team?"

"About twelve or thirteen I'd say." She stated.

"Let's do the math here, your team consisted of five shinobi, and let's say you were ambushed by twelve shinobi, that would mean that two of you would have fought three shinobi while the rest fought two each, right?"

She was speechless. She didn't realize how stupid she was when she let her anger get the best of her. So, they _were_ trying to give her constructive criticism but she didn't believe it. She had refused to think her skills were _that_ bad.

She was glad Asuma was there, he always had the patience of a saint with his friends. She decided to walk through that mission with him, to see if she had missed anything else.

They sat there and spoke for a few hours, and by the end of it, Kurenai felt like an asshole. She still didn't like Itachi, though, and she wanted to beat him one day and show him how much she had grown, but she could understand his anger at her during that mission. She couldn't understand why he snapped the previous night at the hospital, though.

"After I visited you yesterday, Itachi was sitting on a bench. I may have said some mean things, but he almost used his sharingan on me. I have half a mind to report him to the Hokage and his clan, if he's _that_ irresponsible and unstable, it may be best to knock him down a peg or two." She complained.

"What did you tell him, yesterday?"

"I just asked if he had caused a teammate to get hurt and die by his incompetence. I know, I know, it was pretty stupid of me to say that but, it's not a reason to snap at me." Kurenai defended herself.

"You should _really_ learn what's going on before insulting people. Shisui was fatally wounded during a solo mission and Itachi found him collapsed outside the village. He rushed him to the hospital but it was too late."

Kurenai wished that Asuma had stabbed her with his chakra blades instead of hearing him say that; she was sure it would have hurt less.

"I…" she couldn't find the words she wanted to say. She didn't think any words could convey how much she hated herself at the moment.

She sat there, as a million thoughts ran through her head. This was her wake up call, she couldn't keep on living the way she was. She _knew_ she wasn't the best shinobi she could be because of her overconfidence and the fact that she always found excuses to shift the blame onto others, but she wanted to stop that.

"I fucked up so badly, these past few years, didn't I?" She asked earnestly.

"Well, you refused to listen to anyone, so at least you seem more receptive now. It's a step in the right direction." Asuma assured her.

"I need to speak to Genma." Kurenai decided. She grabbed Asuma's hand and started running towards where Genma had left. She would get better and stop blaming others. She would become a jonin and beat Itachi one day.

* * *

He was nervous. He just finished spending time with his family, mourning Shisui and it was draining to see his mother and brother cry. He felt like Sakura would be even more of a mess than the two combined.

He felt numb, like it was all a cruel joke. He had never lost anyone important to him and he couldn't imagine how Sakura felt; she had lost three people she loved with all her heart, then Akio and now Shisui. He definitely didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but she had to be informed.

He stood and watched Sakura's house from a distance for a few minutes, dreading his task at hand. He watched as Sakura and Takeshi ran outside into the yard and laughed together, and he started to have second thoughts that maybe he should wait to tell her when she wasn't playing around.

Had the tables been turned and he had died, he knew Shisui would know exactly what to say to his family to comfort them. He tried to think like Shisui, to get inspiration on what to do but it didn't work; he was on his own for this mission.

Strangely enough, he would rather have a solo assassination mission with Orochimaru as a target than have to tell Sakura of Shisui's death.

After twenty minutes had passed, Itachi finally got enough courage to walk towards Sakura. He was maybe halfway there when he noticed Sakura turn towards him and wave excitedly. He wanted to run away, but knew he couldn't.

"Tachi-chan, want to play with us?" She asked.

Hearing that nickname normally caused his eye to twitch, but not this time. This time, he cherished that nickname since it reminded him of Shisui. He was glad Sakura still called him that.

"Not today, Sakura-chan, I have something to tell you. Is your mother home?" Itachi asked, while trying to keep his voice level.

"Yup, she's inside, working." Sakura replied.

"Can we go inside? I need to speak to all three of you."

Sakura stood up and grabbed both his and Takeshi's hand and walked inside. He saw Takeshi's skeptical and worried look from the corner of his eye as they walked inside.

"Mama, Tachi-chan wants to talk to us." Sakura informed her mother.

Mebuki looked up and immediately looked worried but followed her daughter to the living room. The three sat down while Itachi prepared his words carefully.

Oh, how he wished there would be an interruption, but of course there wasn't.

"Shisui left earlier this week for a solo mission…" he started slowly.

"Please don't say what I think you'll say." Takeshi pleaded.

Sakura turned towards her cousin and she seemed to understand what he meant.

"Take-kun, Shisui is alright, he's really strong, his mission is probably just taking longer than usual. His last few missions also took longer." Sakura explained.

"Itachi has never come here before, and if Shisui was late, how would Itachi know?" Takeshi asked his cousin.

"No, it's not possible. Shisui can't die. Itachi tell me Shisui's not dead!" Sakura stated, hopeful.

Itachi turned fixed his gaze on the ground and didn't move. He hoped it was good enough as an answer.

He heard sniffling and crying but didn't dare look up. He felt like he was intruding and he didn't know if he should stay or leave. Itachi closed his eyes and willed his tears to go away, he didn't want to cry anymore.

He opened his eyes when he felt arms around his waist and stared down at a pink head of hair. He felt as though she was trying to comfort _him_ when he should be comforting her.

He did what Shisui always did and ruffled her hair gently. He saw Takeshi and Mebuki crying and it reminded him of his mother and Sasuke, it seemed they all reacted the same way.

All of them except for Sakura. He was expecting her to cry, yell, maybe even refuse to believe him, but she was just hugging him. She didn't make a sound, she just hugged him. She wasn't holding on to him for dear life, in fact, she didn't seem affected by the fact that Shisui died. Itachi thought she had to be in denial, it would fit her reaction perfectly.

"Sakura-chan, do you understand what happened to Shisui?" He asked quietly.

"Yes. Same thing that happened to my aunt, my uncle, my Papa, and Akio." She stated calmly.

Itachi did what he could, he hugged her back and stood there. He had already told his mother that he would be gone for most, if not the entire day so he stayed with Sakura and watched as she disconnected from everyone around her.

She didn't smile, frown, laugh or cry. She looked pensive, but she didn't share her thoughts with anyone. They had all asked her if she was feeling alright, and every time, she would respond with 'I will be'.

"Itachi, would you like to stay for dinner?" Mebuki asked.

"I would love to, but I can't. My family is having a get together this evening." Itachi declined politely.

Sakura stayed glued to his side, holding his hand until he had to leave. He told himself that he would make time to go see Sakura more often until she was her usual happy self.

* * *

She stood in front of the memorial stone, reading all the names on it. The name she was looking for was added just three days ago; Uchiha Shisui. It was disheartening that there were now five people that she visited at the cemetery, it almost became an entire day's task.

She still hadn't cried ever since Itachi had told her about Shisui and she didn't know why. She felt like the world was against her, and she wouldn't even be surprised if she lost her mother and Takeshi soon - though she really hoped she didn't.

She finally found Shisui's name, which was, unsurprisingly, the last name on the list. There was a lot of empty space after his name, for all the shinobi who would be killed in action in the future. How she hoped her name wouldn't be on that memorial stone.

She sat down and traced his name with her finger and that was when she started crying. It was proof that she would never see Shisui again. She would never hear him laugh, never learn from him again, and never run through the trees with him.

She couldn't stop crying and she hated it. It was the same thing that happened when her father and Akio died, she cried uncontrollably when she saw their names engraved on a tombstone.

"Is this your idea of surprising me? Well, consider your promise fulfilled, I'm surprised." Sakura said angrily.

When she finally stopped crying, anger took over. She was angry at Shisui for dying, angry at the Hokage for giving him the mission and angry at whoever killed him. She would have to ask Itachi if anyone knew who killed him so she could one day return the favour.

She already had the pale eyed monster and the tendril monster that she wanted to kill, adding another name to the list shouldn't be much more difficult.

"Kura-chan, did you find him?"

She nodded quietly and pointed at the memorial stone for Takeshi to see. She felt such intense anger that she didn't trust herself to speak to anyone, even her cousin.

The two sat in front of the memorial stone until the sun started to set. Sakura looked up at the sky and saw a full moon, which only served to remind her of the stories she would invent with Shisui about the dragon getting bored on the moon and deciding to come visit Earth. She tore her eyes away from the moon to stop thinking of Shisui, only to look at the bench where he read his favourite book that his parents had given him.

Everywhere she looked, she was reminded of either Shisui, her aunt, her uncle, her father, or Akio. She ran home, with Takeshi following close behind, and threw herself onto the grass near her family's garden and cried. She didn't want to be reminded of everyone she had lost, every time she opened her eyes, it hurt too much.

She stayed outside until Takeshi carried her to her room, where she lay awake and thought of Shisui's idea to distance himself from others to prevent being hurt when he eventually lost them. It was making more and more sense to her that, if she didn't get to know anyone, she wouldn't be devastated when they died.

She had spent literally half her life wishing she could have friends, but now, she just didn't want to hurt so much ever again. She would have rather had her leg shattered all over again than lose anyone she loved.

She thought back to what Shisui had once told her: he didn't particularly want to have friends because, in the end, it would hurt him too much when they died. Sakura thought about that for several hours until exhaustion took over and she suffered through a night of horrific nightmares once again.

* * *

Sakura's first day back at school was a week after Shisui had died and all she wanted to do was hide from everyone. She made sure to be the last kid in class so she could sit alone, and away from everyone else. She purposefully didn't look at either Shikamaru or Choji and kept her head down once she sat at her new seat for the day at the back of the classroom.

She sat down and looked out the window while somewhat listening to Iruka-sensei. She only really started paying attention when he mentioned a quiz tomorrow about the previous week's content: the shinobi rules.

Sakura knew the rules frontwards and backwards, and she was glad she wouldn't have to ask anyone for their notes on what she missed; that would ruin her goal to speak to no one.

She knew that goal was a pipedream, seeing as a certain loud and boisterous friend would most likely want to talk to her about all the things his family did that weekend. She used to love how Kiba would always make her smile, but she didn't want to smile anymore.

As soon as the kids were let outside for their first break of the day, Sakura hurried to a secluded part of the yard and tried to feign sleep.

Surprisingly, the first person to speak to her was Choji, and he was alone. She couldn't remember ever seeing him without Shikamaru, but there he was, standing in front of the sun so she would see him instead of pretending to sleep.

"I'm used to Shikamaru faking sleep. I can tell when he's faking if his eyes twitch when I block out the sun." Choji informed her meekly.

She opened one eye to look at him and she was tempted to say something but she held back. Instead she turned onto her side, making sure her back was facing him.

She knew she was being rude but, to her, it was the best way to prevent intense pain when he would eventually die - since most people she was close to tended to die. She waited to hear him walk away but he did the opposite of what she wanted; he sat down beside her. Not close enough that they were touching, but close enough that she knew he was there.

She silently cried while he sat there and spoke to her even though she never responded. She felt another familiar chakra signature approaching and she dreaded his arrival.

"Sakura-chan!" Kiba yelled.

When Choji shushed him, Sakura heard Kiba's steps falter and she had to hold back a small chuckle. She listened as Kiba sat beside Choji and Akamaru laid down against her back.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's not feeling very well; she just wants peace and quiet." Choji responded and she just wanted to hug him, instead she felt more tears coming on.

Choji and Kiba sat there quietly, occasionally speaking in hushed tones. She wished they would go away and make it easier for her to not have friends, but they stayed until the bell rang then they walked back to class with her.

She walked to the back of the class to sit alone, but Kiba kept following her. He didn't say a word, he simply sat beside her and pet Akamaru. She almost didn't notice Choji and Shikamaru sit in the nearest empty seats instead of their usual spots.

She didn't say a single word to any of them all day and she was relieved when the dismissal bell rang. She just wanted to go home and sleep, that way she wouldn't have to think of those who died.

Sakura walked out of the Academy and looked around for Takeshi; he had been adamant that he would get her after school. She couldn't find him and she spent a few too many seconds debating if she should just head home or wait for him.

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned around and saw Ino marching towards her. She had an idea how to break her friendship with Ino, and she hoped that would also break her friendship with Choji and Shikamaru. She didn't want to insult anyone in order to break her friendships, she just hoped by ignoring them they would eventually leave her alone. Sakura knew that wasn't the case with Ino; the girl was determined to have things her way, so if she decided to talk to Sakura, she wouldn't stop until Sakura said something.

"I'll ask you this one more time, and I promise to believe you. Do you like Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked, hopeful.

Sakura wasn't sure what to answer, so she waited and hoped that a distraction would come. When no such thing happened, she took a deep breath and looked Ino in the eyes.

"I do."

Sakura watched Ino's eyes widen in shock and her mouth curve into a frown. The worst part - the part where Sakura knew she had made a horrible mistake - was seeing the tears in Ino's eyes.

She watched dumbstruck as Ino ran away and when she snapped out of her shock to yell Ino's name, it was too late; Ino had rounded the corner and was no longer in sight. Sakura stood there trembling, and pale as a ghost. She was angry at herself for deciding to break all her friendships, especially with her first friend. Her plan to no longer have friends didn't even last an entire day before she regretted her decision.

She had never seen Ino look so hurt before, she always looked so confident and in control of everything that Sakura never thought that Ino would cry. _She_ was the one that cried, not Ino. Sakura knew _she_ was the reason for Ino's tears and it felt like her heart was constricting to the point where she had trouble standing upright.

She sat down on the ground and rested her back on a tree and stayed there until Takeshi showed up. He helped her stand up and, together they walked home.

When they arrived in their yard, Sakura explained her plan to not have any friends, so it wouldn't cause her so much pain when they died

"Kura-chan, let me ask you this: Do you regret knowing Akio or Shisui? Do you think you would be better off had you never met them?" He asked earnestly.

Her mind worked overtime, and she tried to imagine what she would be like had she never met either of them: she wouldn't be able to walk on her leg, she wouldn't have had the confidence boost that Shisui gave her, she wouldn't have met Kotetsu and Izumo, she wouldn't have any of the amazing memories she had.

It was that last thought that made her realize that she was glad she had met them. Of course, she wished they would still be alive, but she was starting to believe that it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

She threw herself at Takeshi and cried in his arms as she thought of ways to befriend Ino again. She would make sure she had plenty of great memories with her friends, so she would remember them forever.


	23. Chapter 23

**Due to last chapter's events, I figured it may be best to update quickly.**

 **This is a short chapter, but lots of character development and a short time skip :D**

 **Expect another timeskip very shortly, at which point we'll be ready to see Sakura become a genin!**

 **Thank you everyone for sticking through during the slow pacing, I hope to be able to quicken it up a bit seeing as most characters have been introduced/developed a decent amount.**

 **I know there are a lot of you heartbroken about Shisui, but maybe down the line we can see him again? Who knows (well I do, but I won't give any spoilers)**

 **Enjoy this short chapter! 3**

* * *

She knew it. She _knew_ that Sakura liked Sasuke. Her very best friend had betrayed her and Ino wasn't very happy. Sakura already had Takeshi's full attention, and for that Ino was slightly jealous.

She had never thought that she would ever be jealous of Sakura and she didn't like it. Ino knew she was prettier, more popular and would be a better shinobi than her friend, so it made no sense that she would be jealous of Sakura.

When Ino had first seen Sakura, she had a strong desire to protect the defenseless pink haired girl, and she did. She tried her best to build up her friend's confidence but it was difficult; Sakura wasn't outspoken, brash or loud, she was so meek and afraid to even say a word to others.

"Ino-chan, what's wrong?"

She stopped running just in time to avoid running into her father and looked up into his eyes. Her father was comforting; he knew exactly what to say, so maybe he could help her.

"Sakura likes Sasuke-kun! She already has all of Takeshi-kun's attention, if Sasuke-kun starts paying attention to her…" Ino trailed off.

"Isn't Takeshi Sakura-chan's cousin?"

"Yes, but he should have started paying attention to _me_ when he met me, but he's always with her instead." Ino pouted.

"Take a deep breath and count to ten. Focus on your breathing. Why is it a big deal if the two boys pay attention to her?" Inoichi asked his daughter.

"Because you and Mom always say that love is important and worth fighting for. I love Sasuke-kun and Takeshi-kun, so I should fight for them and their attention." Ino explained.

"Do you love Sakura-chan?"

"Daddy! Sakura's my friend, I don't love her." Ino shrieked in surprise.

"Ino, there are different kinds of love. You love me and your mother, don't you?"

Ino blushed at his question and realized that her father was right. He was the smartest person she knew and she wanted to be just like him when she grew up.

"Of course!" Ino spluttered. "But it's not the same, Sasuke-kun and Takeshi-kun are so cool, so good looking and so awesome!"

"There are different kinds of love, some more obvious than others. You can't choose who you love romantically, maybe Sasuke-kun will love you, or maybe Sakura-chan, or maybe someone else or maybe no one at all."

"But Sakura likes Sasuke-kun and I've seen her try to get his attention, I can't just sit back and not do anything." Ino didn't know why her father wasn't understanding the importance of what she was saying.

"Is Sakura's friendship more important than trying to get Sasuke's love?" Inoichi asked.

"I don't know. She lied to me when I asked her if she liked Sasuke-kun the first time, and friends shouldn't lie to each other." Ino said sadly.

"Maybe she was afraid you wouldn't want to be friends anymore." He suggested.

"That's stupid, she should know that lying is bad."

"You've told me that you're her first friend, maybe she doesn't know how friendships work."

Ino didn't know what to think, she was definitely still angry at Sakura for liking Sasuke-kun, that much was certain.

"Daddy, you said there was someone who also loved Mom when you were younger. Was he your friend?"

Ino saw her father hesitate for a few seconds, but eventually spoke up.

"He started as a friend, then we became rivals, then rivals for love. Though it helped us get closer, it also prevented us from being good friends." He explained with a distant look in his eye.

"What does it mean to have a rival?" Ino asked.

"In our case, it was because we both were pinning after your mother and we both wanted to be the best in the intelligence department. We would always try to improve and be better than the other. It helped us grow, but it also prevented us from growing together, if that makes sense. I'm much closer to Shikaku and Choza than Eiji." Inoichi said with a forced smile.

"Sakura-chan can be my rival then! The best of us will win Sasuke-kun over and be top kunoichi." Ino exclaimed, determined.

* * *

"Rivals?"

"That's what she said, more specifically rivals for love. For Sasuke's love." Sakura explained. She was just as confused as her cousin by Ino's declaration.

"Well, I assume there's no way to talk her out of it? It seems pretty silly to me." Takeshi admitted.

"I tried to explain that I didn't like Sasuke but it didn't work, she seemed even more determined to be rivals after that."

"Maybe with all her focus on Sasuke, she'll forget about me!" Takeshi sounded a bit too hopeful.

"I'm sorry Take-kun, she also told me that she would also get _your_ attention. She hasn't forgotten about you." Sakura said with a devilish gleam in her eyes and a mocking pat on Takeshi's shoulder.

"You may need to teach me how to be sneaky like a shinobi, so I can hide when I need to."

She spent her evening just talking with her cousin. It had been an eventful and emotional day for her. She felt as if she was mourning not only Shisui but everyone she had lost to date.

It also didn't help that her mother and Takeshi would be going out of town for a few days. Usually she would spend her days with Shisui when her family was gone, but she wouldn't be able to this time. She would truly be all alone with just her thoughts, which usually ended in nightmares, and she didn't want that.

She was afraid to be alone, but there wasn't anything she could do about it, her family couldn't just stop their business and expect to earn a living.

She had a restless sleep that night, scared to dream because she knew the nightmares awaited her. She was sick and tired of seeing the tendril monster rip into chests and steal their hearts. Her mind occasionally added that he would eat the hearts after having killed someone and that was somehow more disturbing. Sakura assumed it was because she had gotten so used to seeing her loved ones' chest cavities ripped open that she had gotten somewhat desensitized.

She was already awake when her mother and Takeshi prepared to leave at five o'clock in the morning so Sakura accompanied them to the gates, where she saw Kotetsu and Izumo.

After hugging and kissing her family goodbye, she stood there and simply watched them walk away. She wasn't sure what to do; she still had a few hours before her classes started and she was definitely _not_ going back to sleep.

"You know, Pinky, I assumed your family would have pink hair too." Kotetsu called out.

Sakura turned towards him with a playful smile on her face. His one sentence had managed to distract her from her nightmares and she was thankful.

"Actually, the pink is pretty uncommon. Only the best people in the world are born with bright pink hair, I guess that's why your hair is so far from pink."

As soon as the words were spoken, she clasped a hand over her mouth in horror. She would have definitely teased Shisui like that, but she didn't know Kotetsu enough to say things like that.

"I'm so sor-"

Sakura was cut off by very loud laughter and she was relieved. She always thought that it was best to stay quiet and think before she spoke but she was starting to think that wasn't the solution. She had only made one friend by being quiet and had gathered plenty of bullies that liked to pick on her, so maybe she should try to speak before thinking like she just did.

"I knew I would like you the moment you caught me throwing a rock at you." Kotetsu said between bouts of laughter.

Even Izumo laughed out loud at Sakura's remark and he was much more reserved than Kotetsu. She hadn't heard laughter in a few days and it was a welcomed sound. She was tired of everything and craved distraction from her thoughts.

Sakura walked over and sat on the bench beside the sign in desk. For once, she wasn't waiting for anyone to return and it felt a bit strange. She glanced around at the sign in desk and noticed an open door that lead to a washroom, - it made sense, how else were they expected to go to the washroom - she also noticed a paper with lots of writing on it. She walked closer so she could see the paper better and noticed it was in her aunt's writing.

"What's written on that paper?" She asked.

Kotetsu turned to look at the paper in question. "This is an outline or what to do in different situations and who to contact depending on who enters the village. It basically tells you what to do when you're assigned here since there isn't any formal training provided." Kotetsu explained.

"I never asked what they had to do when they worked here, I just assumed they greeted people and looked out for anyone suspicious." Sakura said sheepishly.

"Natsuko was great at this post. She put a smile on everyone's face and made them feel welcome, no matter the situation." Izumo reminisced.

"She was always so happy." Sakura said softly.

She moved to the side when she saw a team arrive. They looked like lost genin trailing after the jonin and she wondered what her team would be like when she graduated. She had originally wanted to be on a team with Ino, but she wasn't sure if they were friends anymore. Sakura didn't quite know what it meant to have a rival.

She focused back on the genin team and noticed that the genin team wrote something in the sign-in book as Kotetsu wrote something on a different piece of paper.

She waited until the team left to ask Kotetsu what he was writing.

"We get an updated list of all the teams that are out on a mission every twelve hours and we have to mark when the team arrives and how many members there were. It's not perfect but it helps keep track when people have gone missing or been killed in action."

"What if someone doesn't sign in when they return?" Sakura asked.

"The hospital also has one of these, in case a member was injured and had to be rushed there. And in case some idiot decided to skip the sign in desk _and_ the hospital before looking for a new mission, the chunin that is assigned to give missions simply refuses to give them a new one until they come to the sign in desk." Izumo explained.

She never thought that the sign in desk was that important, just that it was a place to write your name when you arrived. She bid farewell to the two chunin and rushed home to get ready for classes, all the while trying to imagine different scenarios that Kotetsu and Izumo could potentially have to deal with when people arrived to the Village.

* * *

"She's so adorable." Kotetsu exclaimed after Sakura had left.

"She seems a lot more mature than her age, if she was taller, I would assume she was a genin already." Izumo continued.

"Oh, here comes the King of skipping sign in and hospital visits. You'd think he'd make his life easier by just signing in when he arrived instead of having to trek back here every time he wants a mission." Kotetsu drawled in slight irritation.

"Hatake." Izumo greeted.

"Boys." The silver haired jonin tilted his head in greeting.

The only time Kotetsu didn't mind Kakashi was when his dogs went with him since he usually got to pet a few. This time, however the two dogs that were with him were busy sniffing the air and the bench where Sakura had briefly sat down. Once they finished sniffing the bench, they made their way to the sign in desk where she stood for most of her time that morning.

The two dogs stayed just a while longer once Kakashi disappeared with the body flicker technique.

"Why was she here so early in the morning?" One of the dogs asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Kotetsu asked, a bit confused as to how Kakashi's dogs knew Sakura.

"The pink haired girl, Sakura. Why was she here?" The other dog barked impatiently.

"How do you know her?" Kotetsu asked defensively.

"We were there after she was attacked and her leg got damaged. Boss summoned us to help track down the bastards who hurt her."

Kotetsu knew that Shisui and Itachi had helped save Sakura, and they had just now learned that Kakashi was there too.

"I'll only ask once more. Why was she here?"

"Her family left the village for business; she came to say goodbye to them."

"Where is she going?"

"I don't know if we should tell you, why do you want to know?" Izumo cut in.

"We try to keep an eye on her to make sure she's alright. We haven't spoken to her yet, but we try to watch from afar when Boss doesn't need us."

Kotetsu and Izumo shared a glance and nodded in agreement.

"She's going home then the Academy since her classes are starting soon. If you ever notice something wrong when you're watching her, you can come find either of us for help." Kotetsu informed the two ninken.

The two dogs nodded and hurried off back into the village.

"I wonder if Kakashi knows his dogs are looking after a kid." Kotetsu pondered out loud.

"I would venture a guess that he doesn't, since they waited until he left to ask us." Izumo concluded.

The two snickered as they looked at a badly beaten up team walk towards the sign in station. They had enjoyed their quick break with Sakura, but it was time to get back to work.

* * *

Sakura had given up trying to isolate herself during class, seeing as Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba just found seats close to wherever she sat anyways. Instead, she asked them where they'd prefer sitting and, as it turned out, they preferred her new location; they had a better view of the window.

For the following year and a half, during their breaks she would often times continue to be around the three boys and occasionally Ino would join them and start bickering with Sakura. She raved about how Sasuke-kun and Takeshi-kun would be hers and how great she was doing in class. Sakura realized that Ino still refused to believe that she wasn't interested in her Sasuke-kun and that the only way she could talk to her ex best friend was by returning the bickering.

It helped Sakura grow more confident and speak her mind, but she longed to have Ino as a friend instead of a rival. She hoped that one day Ino would stop being head over heels in love with Sasuke, after which they could hopefully be friends again.

Naruto sometimes joined the group when Ino wasn't around, but Sakura felt there was something off about him. She had yet to see his parents and he always acted weird when she asked him about them when they were together at the end of classes. He was always the last one to leave, but she didn't dwell too much on it, his parents were probably very busy.

She spent most of her time outside of school with her family, unless one of the three boys invited her to the park or their home. When her family was out of town, she would go see Kotetsu and Izumo at the gates, or if they weren't working, she would read in her yard.

Sakura kept having nightmares, but sometimes Itachi would be there for her. She knew he had stopped by if she woke up with her blankets and Wolfie after having a nightmare. If he hadn't stopped by, her blankets would be a mess on the floor and Wolfie would be halfway across the room.

The thing that surprised her the most was that Sasuke had come up to her a few times to talk to her about Shisui. She could tell he felt bad for putting Shisui down and bragging about his brother when they had first met, but he wasn't sure how to say sorry, and she was fine with it. The fact that he took the first few steps to talk to her meant a lot. She even started calling Sasuke-kun because it reminded her of Shisui.

What was equally as surprising was that he had shared his lunch with her when she forgot hers. She would sometimes forget to make food after a particularly nasty nightmare while her family was out of town, and after the time it happened, he always had extra food with him when she forgot. She didn't know how he knew each time and he refused to tell her his secret.

She had even tried to trick him once by not making herself food when her family _was_ in the village, but he still knew and brought extra food. It annoyed her because it was something she couldn't figure out, like solving a jigsaw puzzle only to find that there are pieces missing.

Sasuke would say that the food was from his mother, but she figured if he didn't care, he could have just eaten the extra food and never given it to her. He would give her the food and walk away before Kiba arrived; it seemed Sasuke didn't like being around anyone loud.

The one person she grew more worried about was Itachi. He hadn't taken Shisui's death very well. Ever since Shisui had died, Itachi became even quieter than usual. She would sometimes feel for his chakra to find him, or wait with Sasuke after classes to see him. His smiles never reached his eyes anymore, not even when he looked at Sasuke. She had insisted on walking with him to the Uchiha district when he signed in a few times, but he always detoured to her house and sat in her yard with her instead. She never wanted to stress Itachi any more than he looked so she tried to distract him and make him smile.

She would show him how much she had improved with channeling the chakra bone - she could now run for twenty seconds painlessly - read beside him while he braided her hair - it was a shock when she found out that he loved braiding hair - and gave him as many hugs as possible.

Her heart went out to him every time she looked in his eyes. Though he was barely just a teen, his eyes made him look decades older. His tear troughs had gotten a lot more noticeable and he always looked lost in his own thoughts.

She made sure that Itachi knew she was there for him and hoped that the weight of the world would lift from his shoulders soon.

* * *

She woke up with a feeling of dread. She hated it when her family went out of town, but she knew it was part of her mother and Takeshi's job so she tried her best to not complain. She had felt a bit sick the previous night so she went to sleep earlier than usual. It was barely past midnight and she was glad to have her blankets and Wolfie, courtesy of Itachi.

She silently thanked him and looked at the full moon shining through her window. It was a beautiful, quiet night- save for her usual nightmares. She wondered if anyone could hear her screams, but since no one had ever come running in to save her, she assumed her nightmares went unnoticed by her neighbours.

A flicker in the darkness reminded her that anyone could be hiding inside her room - the tendril monster, the blue eyes monster, even irresponsible jonin with poison coated weapons. She gathered up her blanket, pillows and Wolfie and entered what she dubbed as the safest place in the house - her closet.

She had hidden there so many times that it sometimes felt more comfortable than her own bed. She sat down and waited out the rest of the night with occasional quick naps. Sakura knew she would be tired in the morning but she didn't like the idea of having two nightmares in one night.

She only had two nightmares in one night once, because she promised herself to never go through that hell ever again. She had been paranoid all day and couldn't even bring herself to walk to the Academy because every bush or forest would give her panic attacks.

It would be a long night since she didn't dare bring a lamp inside the closet and compromise her safety.

She saw the sun shine through the bottom of the door and she flared her chakra for any intruders and found that she was still alone in her house.

She went through her normal routine and noticed the ever-present crow outside her window. She was tempted to feed it, hoping that it would ward off intruders in the future. After making herself food for the day, she walked to the Academy. She was now a second-year student and, strangely enough, she was in the same class as Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto again. The only difference was that Sasuke was in her class as well.

Except for that day. Sasuke didn't show up to any of their classes, so she surmised that he was sick. Maybe there was something going around, since she felt sick the night before, she would have to ask him when he came to class.

After three days of Sasuke missing classes, she decided to ask her friends, in case they somehow knew what was wrong.

"You mean, you don't know?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know what? Is there a flu or something going around?" Sakura asked with a hint of annoyance, if there was a flu that everyone knew about, it wasn't fair that she was kept in the dark.

"I wish that were the case," Shikamaru began. "Sasuke's the only Uchiha left in Konoha. His brother killed his entire clan except for Sasuke."


	24. Chapter 24

**A quick chapter :D**

 **No promises that I'll be able to publish a chapter every few weeks, it all depends on how much time I have and motivation and such.**

 **I absolutely love to read the reviews, they make my day!**

 **I hope you all enjoy this one :)**

* * *

She had once believed Itachi capable of hurting the ones closest to him, and she had been wrong. He had been forced to injure Shisui that one time and he had felt worse than Shisui about it.

Sakura stood there, gaping at her friends in disbelief. There was no chance in hell that Itachi had killed his entire clan, with the exception of Sasuke; he had to have been forced.

She remembered Itachi's smiles when he saw his mother, Sasuke and Shisui and knew that he was a good person. Shisui had even told her that Itachi was a pacifist and abhorred violence, and Shisui was _not_ a liar. She was sure that Itachi had visited her the night of the massacre since her blankets were still on her bed. If he was as cold-hearted as everyone said, why would he have bothered to stop and check up on her?

At least she knew that Sasuke would be on her side. Sasuke revered Itachi and he would know that Itachi was incapable of doing such a violent act, she just had to wait until he came to class so she could talk to him.

She was still in shock when she stepped into her house, and it took Takeshi a full twenty minutes of hovering around her for her to snap out of her thoughts. She still couldn't bring herself to say anything for another hour, and even then, it was just to say "The Uchiha clan was massacred."

Those were the only words she spoke that night, and though she wanted to cry for Mikoto - the woman had been so kind to her and her family - she just couldn't shed a single tear.

Her mother mentioned that Mikoto was to go with her on their most recent business trip, but she had gotten sick and had to stay in the village. It hit Sakura like a brick wall that, had Mikoto gone with her mother, she would still be alive.

Her nightmare that night consisted of the tendril monster invading Konoha and killing every Uchiha, including Sasuke, Itachi and Shisui.

* * *

Despite the commotion and the excitement of every single student in her class, Sakura was _not_ looking forward to sparring. She didn't trust her shattered leg to hold her if someone hit it, and she knew that Ino remembered her weakness.

Though she wouldn't be sparring with Ino since they were in different classes, she didn't know if Ino had told anyone about her weakness.

She followed Choji outside and tried to stay hidden; maybe if Iruka-sensei couldn't see her, he'd forget about her. She looked around to see who her options were for the spar and found that she didn't want to hurt anyone that she cared about.

She watched the first match between Choji and Shikamaru begin, then end abruptly when Choji refused to hit Shikamaru. She thought that it was absolutely adorable that Choji hated violence and did exactly what she was planning on doing if she was paired up with a friend. Her mind half reminded her that Itachi also hated violence, yet everyone believed him to have gone mad and killed his clan.

She waited until the two boys joined her and Kiba to hug them both. All her friends had gotten used to her hugs and they sometimes reciprocated.

"Kiba and Naruto" Iruka yelled out.

Sakura watched as Kiba smirked and hurried to the sparring circle. Naruto joined him shortly after and their match began. It was a whirlwind of punches and kicks and tackles, both of them having enough stamina to fight non-stop for five minutes. By the end, Kiba managed to get a lucky hit in and pinned Naruto to the ground, winning the match.

Somehow Kiba still had enough energy to run back and give her a bear hug. She waited for Naruto to join them but instead he walked away from everyone and sat down with his back facing them.

She hesitated to go see him until Iruka called out her name for the next match.

She slowly walked to the circle and was happy when she noticed that she wasn't fighting a friend. It was a girl with short brown hair that always wore a yellow shirt; Meisa. She didn't really know the girl, just that she was part of the unofficial Sasuke fan club.

Sakura's heart was beating quickly and she tried to hide her nervousness by pacing. She saw Meisa extend her hand and they formed the seal of confrontation before starting.

Sakura saw Meisa's punch coming towards her so she dodged out of the way - more like threw herself out of the way. She had to channel extra chakra to her leg every time she took a quick step with it. Sometimes she wouldn't be fast enough to react and she would feel the pain radiating through her which caused her to stumble.

Meisa kept charging in, always throwing punches and Sakura was getting tired from dodging and channelling chakra. She took a deep breath and started punching, remembering Shisui's tips. She put her body into the punch and forced her eyes to remain open.

She managed to get a hit to Meisa's shoulder but the girl managed to hit Sakura in the stomach. That was the first punch she had ever received and it knocked her breath away for a moment.

Meisa took advantage of Sakura's distraction and tackled her to the ground. Sakura let out a scream as her leg slammed onto the ground and Meisa got off her instantly.

She took a few deep breaths then struggled to stand up as Iruka called the match. She turned and formed the seal of reconciliation with Meisa before limping towards her friends.

They all had a worried look but she walked past them. She sat down beside a tree, away from everyone and unwrapped her throbbing leg.

She already had bruises forming and she looked at all the scars on her leg from the bones that had pierced through the skin two years ago. She massaged the leg as best she could and heard a loud gasp. She turned around to see Naruto standing nearby, eyes fixed on her leg; it was the first time he saw it.

She quickly wrapped her leg up tightly and channelled chakra through her leg to try to soothe the pain. It helped but there was a constant ache in her leg for the rest of the day.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto trailed off.

"It's alright Naruto, it's just a few bruises. It'll be back to being perfect in a few days." She tried to assure him.

She limped back to her friends with Naruto in tow and they all looked at her worriedly. She stood beside Kiba and Naruto stood beside her, occasionally glancing at her leg.

"Shouldn't your leg be healed? You broke it more than a year ago." Kiba asked.

"The doctors said that the bone would always be weaker even after it was healed." Sakura lied.

"My sister said that with medical ninjutsu, the bones become just as strong as they were before." Kiba countered.

Sakura didn't know enough about medical ninjutsu to know the answer; she only knew how to channel chakra through her leg to reduce the pain.

She remained quiet and watched on as the other kids sparred. She may have been biased, but Kiba and Naruto's match had been the best one of the day. Telling the two boys that only caused them to flush slightly and turn away from her.

She was tempted to try to visit Sasuke after classes were done but she didn't know where he was staying. She assumed he wouldn't be staying in the Uchiha district: it would be a cruel and unusual punishment for him to live in the same place where his entire clan was killed.

She spent the evening with Kotetsu and Izumo, listening to the numerous stories they told her about their best missions. She kept them company until her mother and Takeshi arrived from their day long work trip and walked hand in hand with Takeshi back home.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura nearly had a heart attack as several girls ran past her, into the classroom. She looked around quickly and noticed that Sasuke was back and sitting quietly on his own, looking out the window.

She felt a pang of sorrow for him as girls flocked around him and his eye twitched in annoyance. At least she still brought extra food with her so he could have some. She even made sure to add extra tomatoes, seeing as Itachi used to give him his.

It was strange, seeing everyone - except for the girls who swooned over him - take extra care not to disturb him. The teachers avoided him and never called him out to answer a question and the kids would take a wide berth during their break to avoid him.

When the bell rang for lunch, the kids quickly ran outside, with the exception of Sasuke and Sakura. She waited for Sasuke to do something but he stayed at his seat, looking out the window, so she slowly approached him.

"Sasuke-kun…" she said softly.

He turned towards her and she barely had enough time to see the tears in his eyes before he wiped them away. He glared at her, but she stood her ground and took out the extra food she had prepared and placed it in front of him.

"I'm returning the favour. You were there for me when Shisui died, I can be there for you when you need it." She said simply.

He looked at her, then at the food and slowly opened the bag. She was glad that she was already looking at his expression, or else she would have missed the barely there smile when he thanked her.

"I would like to be alone, if you don't mind." He said politely.

"That's fine, Sasuke-kun. Thank you for letting me know without throwing food in my face." She joked and was happy when she heard him chuckle softly.

She joined Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru outside for a peaceful meal but knew it wouldn't be the case when Ino stomped over to their table.

"I saw you. You're trying to win Sasuke-kun over with food! I'll bring him a better home-cooked meal tomorrow and we'll eat it together and it'll be _so_ romantic!" Ino exclaimed.

Sakura facepalmed and cursed Ino for always keeping an eye on Sasuke. "Ino, please don't do that, Sasuke wants to be left alone, he doesn't want people around him." She tried to explain.

"You're just trying to get me to back off so _you_ can spend time with him. Nice try, Forehead."

Sakura was speechless. Ino had never called her that, in fact, Ino had been the one to make the bullies _stop_ calling her that.

She saw Ino's eyes widen a bit but quickly after, an evil grin replaced it. Ino mouthed 'Forehead' again and Sakura felt anger bubble up inside her. She looked Ino over and tried to find a single flaw, anything to use against her but she couldn't. Ino dressed nicely, everything was proper, her hair was always perfect and her face was just so pretty. Her face. She looked at it more closely and noticed that her nose looked a little bit like a pig nose if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head to the side. It was fitting too because Ino meant "wild boar".

Sakura smiled vindictively and said "I don't need excuses to be able to spend time with Sasuke-kun, Pig."

The words felt wrong to Sakura, almost as if someone else had said them in her place but they were already spoken and Ino's shock was apparent. It didn't help when Kiba started laughing hysterically at the name Sakura had given Ino.

Her rival quickly stomped away gracefully - how that was possible was beyond Sakura - and all she heard was Shikamaru let out a long drawn out sigh.

"I think she'll be more insufferable now." He drawled out.

"I'm going to call her that from now on! It's too perfect of a name and she clearly didn't like it." Kiba shouted.

"Please don't, I shouldn't have called her that, I was being stupid."

"It's ok to be angry sometimes, Sakura-chan, Ino knows you were just calling her that because she called you Forehead." Choji reassured her and hugged her.

She was proud of Choji for initiating a hug; he had always been unsure and shy but in the past few weeks, he had started to seek out her hugs. Sakura thought back and noticed that Choji always had her back and always had supportive words when she was feeling a bit down. He and Naruto were very similar in that sense.

Though she did feel betrayed by Ino, she kept telling herself that she was simply using the name "Forehead" to tease her and not hurt her. She felt down for the rest of the day and decided it was best to speak to Sasuke about Itachi another day.

She was dumbstruck the next day when she was finally able to speak to him. All she had managed to say before Sasuke cut her off was "Sasuke, you know Itachi-"

"Don't say that name." Sasuke seethed.

"But you know he didn't do it, right?"

"I saw him. He did it." Sasuke's words dripped with venom.

Sakura flinched at the hatred that emanated from Sasuke; it seemed that Sasuke no longer revered his brother.

"He doesn't like violence though; it doesn't make sense."

"He hurt Shisui when there was a disagreement regarding the clan, is that not enough proof?"

"He only did so because he had to, he had to be loyal to your father. Ita- He didn't want to hurt Shisui." Sakura defended.

"You're delusional if you think that's true."

"No! He and Shisui told me the truth."

"Then Shisui was just like him, if he was alive, he would have helped him kill the clan. They told you what you wanted to hear, they lied to you."

"No, they didn't. They had no reason to lie to me."

"Stop defending that murderer."

"But Itachi isn't at fault!" She yelled.

"He _killed_ my parents in front of me! Stop being an idiot." He yelled back more fiercely.

Sakura gasped and stood there, looking at Sasuke. She didn't want to believe him, even if Itachi was forced to kill his clan, why would he kill his parents in front of his brother. It made no sense.

"Itachi still-"

" _Don't say his name!_ " Sasuke shouted. "This is the last time I'm warning you." He threatened.

"He cares about you. He loves you. I can't explain it, but why would he leave only one survivor? He wasn't able to kill you because he loves you."

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled and ran away with tears in his eyes.

Their conversation completely derailed from how she thought it would have gone. She still believed that Itachi cared about her, and if he cared about her then he most definitely cared about Sasuke.

She decided to wait a few days before approaching Sasuke with the topic of Itachi again. She had caught up to him just outside the academy gates after classes and decided to try her luck once more.

"Sasuke-kun, I know you don't believe me now, but remember that Itachi loves-"

She was cut off by something slamming into her. She yelped in surprise then shrieked when her leg slammed into the ground. Her instincts kicked in and she struggled against and threw punches at whatever was on top of her.

She managed to get a few hits in - though she wasn't sure where her hits had connected - before she felt the weight get off of her.

The pain was too intense as something else hit it, hard, and she saw black fog creeping into her vision. She focused on channelling chakra to subdue the pain but it was difficult.

After what felt like hours, but probably only a handful of seconds passed, the black fog was receding and she could take a moment to look at her surroundings.

She saw Iruka and another teacher remove both Naruto and Kiba from someone on the ground. Their fight had stirred up a lot of dust and sand, so she couldn't make out just who was on the ground; she knew it was her attacker though.

Knowing that Kiba and Naruto had helped her warmed her heart; they were protecting her. She was confused to see Sasuke on the ground with a swollen eye.

So Sasuke had attacked her? Realization dawned on her that she had said Itachi's name again and she assumed that's why he had attacked her.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" Kiba asked when he saw her sit up.

"I'll be fine, I just need a few minutes." Sakura responded, trying to ignore the pain in her leg.

She didn't focus on what was happening around her, and instead shut her eyes and tried to calm down. She jumped a bit when she felt someone behind her. She looked back to see Choji standing there with an unopened bag of chips.

"Did you want to lay down?" He asked her.

Sakura nodded and got ready to lay down but Choji told her to wait. He sat down and motioned for her to use his leg as a pillow to make it more comfortable, so she did. She kept her eyes closed and missed Choji's furious blush that he sported.

After a few minutes, when the commotion outside died down, she extended her chakra and sensed that the only people left with her were Shikamaru and Choji. She slowly sat up and unwrapped her leg to massage it. The two boys had seen her leg numerous times and they always asked her about it, yet she had never told them what had happened. Ino was the only one she had told and she was hesitant to tell anyone else.

She tightly wrapped her leg again to reduce the pain and stood up. Her clothes were filthy, but she felt good about herself; she had managed to land a few hits on Sasuke.

"Did Kiba or Naruto give Sasuke-kun the black eye?" She asked her friends.

"No, you did." Shikamaru smirked.

Her happiness disappeared instantly; she had hit Sasuke in the eye. Had she hit harder, it's possible it would have caused more serious damage, and she never wanted to hurt a friend like so. Sure, it was basically self-defense since he had attacked her out of the blue, but she still didn't like it.

Choji and Shikamaru walked her home and she noticed that there was always a crow in her field of vision, it was as if it followed her around the village.

* * *

"Hi Shisui. I wanted to come see you a few days ago, but I wasn't sure how to tell you. Itachi supposedly killed your entire clan, except for Sasuke-kun. I know he didn't do it, or there's a reason for it, but I don't think anyone will believe me. He's all alone and I don't know how to talk to him without making him angry.

I wish you were still here. I miss your smile and the weird things you would say that made me laugh. I miss laughing with you. My other friends make me laugh sometimes, but it's not the same.

I feel sad for Sasuke, he lost everyone he cared about in one night. At least I still have Mama and Take-kun, I don't know what I would do without them.

I'm finally reading the poison book my uncle gave me. I'm scared that I won't be good at it because he's not there to teach me.

I miss you, Shisui. I'm still mad at you for leaving me like this."

Sakura silently walked home that night and let her tears fall freely onto the dirt path. She just wanted to go home and sleep for a week. There was always death around her and she hated it. She watched her friends walk around and play with other kids and she wondered if they would be the same if they lost their family.

She was curious to know what Ino would be like if she lost her parents. Would she still be the same, or would she be more subdued?

Sakura admitted that she didn't know Sasuke that well, but she noticed that his personality was completely different from when she had seen him at his house with his family. This new Sasuke was quiet, contemplative, determined, angry, sad and tired. Though she had only rarely been able to laugh with him before the massacre, she hoped she would be able to make him laugh in the coming years to help him.

* * *

Sasuke had gone down in his books. He had always been indifferent to the quiet kid but after attacking Sakura-chan like that, Sasuke rubbed him the wrong way.

He couldn't help but give Sasuke the stink eye every time he saw him from that day onwards and he always tried to follow him to make sure he didn't approach Sakura-chan ever again.

Sakura-chan was so important to him, even if she was unaware. She had spoken to him. Hell, even Shikamaru, Choji and, he supposed, Kiba were pretty important since they didn't insult or yell at him. Kiba had become his rival; someone he wanted to be stronger than, just like how Ino and Sakura were rivals, except for the weird Sasuke part.

He just wanted to protect her, and he knew he would do anything for her. If she asked him to carry her to her seat and back in class, he would do it. If she asked him to hand feed her everything, he would do it. If she asked him to never wear orange again, he would get rid of every piece of orange clothing he owned, even though the only clothing he owned were orange jumpsuits.

He knew he shouldn't give someone complete power over him, but he didn't care, she was worth it. Others would consider him to be obsessed with her, but he just admired her and loved her so much.

Sometimes, Sasuke would approach her, but he made sure to always be there and intercept him. The only time he was allowed to fight Sasuke was during the spars and, like Kiba, Sasuke would usually win. But Naruto saw this as a way to improve. He gained two rivals during his second year at the Academy, and that was his drive to get stronger.

He closed the gap between him and Kiba by their fourth year. By then, he was able to win half the time, but he still had a long way to catch up to Sasuke. Even by their final year, he had only managed to win twice against the Uchiha.

Naruto vowed to get stronger when he became a genin and challenge Sasuke to another spar so he could shove his stupid face into the ground and laugh at him.

* * *

Kiba was at a disadvantage during class sparring; he wasn't allowed to use Akamaru as a fighting companion. His clan's fighting style included their ninja dog and that's how his mother had started training him.

He had laughed at Naruto when he beat him repeatedly, but in their fourth year, Kiba couldn't laugh at him anymore. It shocked Kiba that Naruto had improved and reached his skill level, but he vowed they wouldn't stay tied for long.

He also had a small crush on Ino, Hinata and Sakura and all for different reasons. He liked Ino for her looks and confidence - definitely not for her loudness. He liked Hinata for her caring nature - even though she seemed obsessed with Naruto. He liked Sakura for her everything - he only wished she would stop distancing herself from her friends. All three girls had flaws and he would often imagine the perfect girl, which would be a mix of the three.

* * *

Choji had gotten a lot more confident, and even managed to stand up to Ino's fat comments. All it took was acceptance from others and it made him realize that there's nothing wrong with being plump and, even if Ino insisted that girls don't like guys as big as him or guys that eat so much, Sakura was there to contradict her.

Sakura had told him that if a girl doesn't like him because of his size, then she's not worth his time. She was also there to stuff her face with him when they ate with his family. Despite Ino's disgusted looks, he had learned to do what he feels is right, and what he wants.

By their fourth year, he still didn't want to hurt his friends in a spar, but Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru provided valid points to convince him otherwise.

"Think of it as helping your friends get better." Sakura had told him.

"It's a good way to show someone that you respect them and believe in their skill when you spar without holding back." Shikamaru had tried to explain.

"If you don't spar, you'll fail the class." Kiba enlightened him.

Choji definitely wanted to graduate with his friends and, even though the Ino-Shika-Cho was a legendary team composition, Choji wanted to make sure he would be on Shikamaru's team. There was another kid from his clan in their class, and Choji had to make sure that _he_ was the one to be part of the Ino-Shika-Cho group since Shikamaru was the only one from his clan that would be graduating with them. There was a second Yamanaka in his year, and he didn't really care which one ended up on the Ino-Shika-Cho team

In their fourth year, Choji fought back in spars and it turned heads. He hit hard, and could tank a few hits, it made him a force to be reckoned with.

Shikamaru never won another spar against Choji, in fact only Sasuke, and sometimes Kiba, Naruto and Shino managed to win against him. It was strange though that the teachers never had the boys fight any girls in spars. Sometimes Choji wished he could spar against Ino so she would hopefully stop trying to insult his weight.

One day, Kiba had suggested mixing it up and having guys fight girls, Choji had been paired with Hinata and he couldn't bring himself to hit her. She looked so fragile and he barely felt her punches. He was frozen in place, and despite Sakura, Naruto and Kiba cheering him on, he understood why the teachers didn't put boys against girls.

On the other hand, Kiba had been chosen to go against Sakura and the two went at it like there was no tomorrow. The two couldn't stop smiling during their entire fight. Kiba knew to not hit her leg - she had confessed to Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru about her leg because they kept hounding her about it - and everyone was surprised to see Sakura keeping up with Kiba.

She was one of the worst fighters in class, but it seemed that she was pretty good when she was having fun. Kiba ended up winning, but the two of them had enough bruises that it hurt them to move.

Choji envied Naruto because he had fought Ino, and he didn't let her speak during the entirety of their spar. He would talk over her if she started speaking which only served to annoy and anger her, to the point that she shrieked and was yelling at Naruto to shut up.

It was a very entertaining spar that Naruto easily won due to his stamina alone. Though Ino executed the taijutsu stances flawlessly, Naruto's random attacks threw her off her game.

Most girls refused to fight against the boys ever again, but Sakura still insisted that she would fight them.

The first time Sakura was to spar against Sasuke was the first time Choji was really scared. He still remembered when Sasuke had tackled her to the ground and started fighting her in the school grounds, seemingly for no reason, and Sasuke was the Rookie of the Year. He was good at everything, and he was focused on ending the spars as quickly as possible.

It surprised everyone when he hesitated as soon as the spar started. To this day, no one except maybe Sakura, knows why Sasuke was showing her an ounce of kindness. It surprised everyone even more when Sakura managed to dodge a few hits, and, despite Sasuke's fan club shouting words of encouragement and awe and squeals, Sasuke managed to get hit by Sakura a few times.

Sasuke looked distracted and no one could figure out why. In the end he won because it seemed he knew about her weak spot, and the asshole kicked her leg, but Sakura had smiled through her tears from her position on the ground as Sasuke helped her up.

It was the first time that anyone had seen Sasuke be nice, which only spurred his fan club on to swoon over him and add 'super incredibly nice and caring' to his list of qualities.

Choji had looked at Sakura for the rest of the day and was surprised to see her keep her wide smile the entire time. He didn't quite know why, but he wished that he had been the reason for her smile.

* * *

All he wanted was for people to leave him alone, but that was the one thing he knew he would never get while in class. There were only a few girls who never approached him: the Hyuga girl, a girl with short black hair who appeared to hate every living person, and a girl with long brown hair who was part of the Akimichi clan and only had eyes for food. In short, the only girls who didn't speak to him were all weird.

He was torn on Sakura though. Sometimes he wished she would leave him alone, but sometimes he wished she would come speak to him. If she was ever alone in the school yard, he was sure that he would gather up the courage to go see her, but she was never alone; she always had those 3 and sometimes Naruto or the loudest fangirl around her.

He was lonely, but there wasn't really anyone aside from Sakura that he could stand, and he was scared that Itachi would eventually kill her too. He had taken everyone from him, except Sakura. Maybe Itachi just didn't think she was important enough to kill, and Sasuke wanted to keep it that way.

He trained tirelessly outside of class since it was the only thing that would tire his body enough so he could sleep through the night. He had even managed to make a friend in the form of a crow. The crow seemed to follow him around and he felt safer - he knew crows weren't capable of fending anyone off, but he liked to think that the crow would warn him if Itachi came back to the village.

His training made him the number one contender for the Rookie of the Year spot when he would graduate. The follow up seemed to possibly be Ino, since Sakura performed terribly in spars most of the time. The few times he had sparred against her gave him the idea that she was capable of more than what she let on, but then she would lose terribly to everyone when she wasn't sparring a friend.

She actually seemed happy when sparring against a friend and he believed that it helped her relax, which in turn made her better. She had never liked the attention from everyone and being put on the spot seemed to make her nervous.

Even if she was terrible at sparring, she had gotten _very_ good at kunai throwing. She had managed to surpass him in their third year so he had made sure to catch up during their fourth year and hoped to surpass her in their final year, but they were evenly matched.

Though he didn't really care about the kids in his class, he still paid attention to everyone around him. At first, he disliked both of his unwanted rivals because they were loud and annoying, but the more he watched them, the more he tolerated them. He learned that Naruto was an orphan, and had been his entire life. That resonated with Sasuke and he understood why Naruto acted out a lot. It also seemed that almost everyone hated him for no apparent reason.

He had followed him around the village one day and every single adult sneered at him or called him a demon. It was a harsh life and Sasuke thought that maybe he could become Naruto's friend - if he quieted down, that is.

Despite both Kiba and Naruto's loudness, they both seemed to care and be calm around Sakura for some reason. He didn't know what she had done, in order for them to be completely docile, but he was tempted to join their group one day during one of their breaks. He had been trying to gather up the courage to join the group for three years but had yet to do so. So, he stayed alone with the occasional short conversation with Sakura.

* * *

He was never the type to teach others anything, and children also annoyed him. It was one of the reasons he never wanted to become a jonin; he was afraid that he would be forced to take on a genin team, just like Kakashi recently had to do - though the man hadn't passed a single team, he still had to waste a few days a year being around kids to test them.

Over the past few years though, both he and Kotetsu had slowly started teaching Sakura how to throw kunai. They knew her leg was badly damaged, and they figured that she should excel at long range attacks so she wouldn't have to worry about going in melee as much.

It had taken her quite a lot of practice in order to get the hang of throwing kunai but in her fourth year, she had started to throw kunai with both her hands simultaneously. They had also started to teach her how to throw shuriken and senbon to increase her arsenal.

Izumo just wanted her to beat the Uchiha in a subject that his clan was known to excel at, to bring her confidence up. It would also serve as a small victory over his former teammate, who would boast about his amazing skills and refused to believe that a civilian like him could ever be better than him at long ranged attacks.

They had both grown to adore the girl, and they really enjoyed spending time with her family during meals, which was very strange to them.

He had once stumbled upon her at the cemetery during her final year and he learned that she was still not over any of the deaths that she had endured during her time at the academy. He rarely saw her cry but that day, he learned that she kept everything hidden away from her friends.

He could talk to her and tell her everything will be alright but he knew she was dealing with it as best she could, and it wouldn't be right for him to interfere; there were a lot of shinobi who visited their deceased loved ones at the cemetery.

* * *

She woke up at the crack of dawn and couldn't go back to sleep. She was too excited for the day; she was confident that she would pass her final test with flying colours and graduate from the Academy today.


	25. Chapter 25

**Here is a long chapter!**

 **I was hoping to get a bit further in the story in this one, but I guess things didn't turn out the way I planned.**

 **Next Chapter is the bell test! Some similarities, but some changes as well.**

 **Let me know what you think, and I hope everyone had a fantastic summer!**

* * *

"Sasuke" Iruka called next.

His heart sped up, and though he knew he could easily perform the required jutsu to graduate, there was always the possibility that he would mess up and fail. Failure meant waiting another year before graduating, which meant delaying getting stronger by a year, which meant he would have to wait longer before avenging his clan; before killing his brother.

He almost didn't see Naruto stick his leg out to trip him; almost. He glared at the blonde-haired kid who _always_ wore an orange tracksuit and calmly avoided the obstacle. Naruto stuck out his tongue and Sasuke ignored it, instead walking past all the kids in the hall who were waiting to be called in, and entered the classroom.

He greeted his two teachers - Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei - before standing in front of them. Five seconds felt like five hours and Sasuke's nervousness only increased - why weren't they telling him which jutsu they wanted him to do first?

Sasuke spent an eternity focusing on Iruka's horizontal scar that ran across the bridge of his nose and Mizuki's white hair that had a blueish hue to it. The oddly coloured hair made him think of Sakura's bright pink hair and he wondered just how many strange hair colours there were in the village. He mentally started to go through all the kids in his class until Iruka spoke up.

"Sasuke can you start with the Bunshin?" The teacher he least despised asked nicely.

Sasuke formed the seals as Iruka had taught them and channeled chakra to create an identical copy of himself. He had spent hours in front of the mirror, scrutinizing his clone in order to make sure every single detail was replicated perfectly. The clone was simply an illusion and couldn't deal any damage in combat; it served as an illusionary distraction or to confuse their opponent.

He remembered his family talking about elemental and shadow clones which were actually tangible and he knew that he wanted to learn to make those.

One night, shortly after he had learned the bunshin jutsu - clone jutsu - in class, he had made one at home and used the henge jutsu - transformation jutsu - to transform his clone's appearance to look like his mother and kept himself company. It was only when he realized he couldn't physically touch or be held by his mother clone that he wanted to be able to have a tangible clone one day.

"Thank you, Sasuke. Next is the henge, transform into either Iruka or myself." Mizuki said tersely.

For this jutsu, Sasuke had stared intently at Iruka for weeks on end, analysing his movements and facial expressions. Again, he formed the seals and channeled his chakra and suddenly an exact replica of Iruka-sensei stood in front of the two teachers.

Both Iruka and Mizuki walked up to Sasuke to inspect his transformation jutsu and Sasuke swore that he saw a snarl of disgust make its way onto Mizuki's face during his inspection.

There had always been something about Mizuki that rubbed him the wrong way yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Sometimes it would be a glance in Naruto's direction, or a stare in Ino or Kiba's direction.

At first, he chalked it up to Mizuki not liking the loud-mouthed ones but he had caught Mizuki giving him and the Hyuga girl the stink eye too, and they were both very quiet. The strangest thing of all was that during their final year, Mizuki seemed to praise Naruto, of all people. It was almost as if he was trying to become best friends with Naruto.

"Congratulations, Sasuke! You were able to expertly perform both jutsu and can now become a genin. Remember to be in class tomorrow so you can be assigned to your genin team." Iruka said earnestly.

"Here is your forehead protector with the leaf village's symbol. You are required to wear this on all your missions or any other official business, though it doesn't need to be on your forehead." Mizuki almost sneered through his teeth and shoved the forehead protector at Sasuke.

With a weight lifted off his shoulders, Sasuke walked out of the classroom just to be greeted with the shrieks and swooning of his fan club. They were so loud and annoying and he just wanted peace and quiet, so he hurried outside.

Though it was raining hard, he didn't mind it, it helped him be at peace. He _did_ feel the urge to celebrate his graduation, but he didn't know how. Had his family been alive, he would have rushed home and his mother would have made sure he had plenty of tomatoes available, his father may or may not have been proud of him, and Itachi… just the thought of him dampened his mood so he opted to focus on the present.

He sat under a tree where it was fairly dry and waited. He told himself that he wasn't waiting for her to graduate and come outside, yet his heart felt lighter at the thought.

He watched as a few kids came outside looking sullen - presumably they had failed the test and were to return to the Academy for the next school year - then saw the fat kid and the lazy kid walk outside with forehead protectors.

Turns out the lazy one had brought an umbrella so the pair walked away without getting wet. He did find it odd that they didn't wait for Sakura, but he just shrugged it off and kept waiting. He tried to hide whenever he noticed an annoying girl leaving the building, and after almost an hour, Sakura finally came outside.

She was wearing her forehead protector proudly and he wished he could smile like she did and not have a long list of dead relatives that he mourned. He sometimes wished that he and Sakura could have switched places and that he still had a loving family. The only problem would be that he was certain Sakura would be very different if she had lost part or all of her family.

She was from a civilian family; they weren't part of the violent world of shinobi and Sasuke didn't know why Sakura even _wanted_ to be a shinobi. He supposed he should have asked her before they graduated; as they may not see each other much anymore.

He sat there, still debating if he should go see her when his crow friend cawed on the tree branch above him. He stared up at it for a moment and smiled; the crow was always there for him.

* * *

She was over the moon that she had passed! She was now a genin, and all she wanted to do was run to the cemetery and tell her aunt, uncle and Shisui that she was finally a shinobi. Then it hit her; there was no longer a Shisui to run through the trees with her.

Her excitement wore off quickly and she was glad that it was raining. She was startled when Sasuke stood beside her, looking a little out of place; he rarely ever approached her, she usually went to him when he looked lonely.

Sakura waited almost a minute before speaking

"Hi Sasuke-kun, I knew you would pass. Are you excited for being put on a team tomorrow?" She asked.

"Hn, not excited. I'll probably be on a team with annoying people." He pouted and Sakura resisted the urge to chuckle. Instead she smiled at him and slowly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Isn't everyone annoying? You may learn to like them, who knows, you could be on Ino's team with Kiba or something." She teased.

Sasuke's eyes widened comically and he took a step back, but not too far that her arm couldn't touch his shoulder anymore.

"That's not something you should joke about; I would ask for a transfer."

At that, Sakura couldn't hold back her smile and laughter; teasing Sasuke was just as easy as teasing Takeshi, and she wanted to take full advantage of that.

Her heart warmed when Sasuke let out a few laughs. Once their laughter died down, Sasuke began to fidget, but stayed silent. She waited a few minutes until he finally spoke up.

"Did you want to do something to celebrate?" He half-mumbled barely loud enough for Sakura to hear.

It was the first time Sasuke had ever asked to hang out and Sakura was _not_ going to ignore it. Her mother and cousin had planned an afternoon and evening of fun for the three of them, and Sakura knew they would be alright with Sasuke joining them. She invited him over and after a bit of reluctance from Sasuke, the two walked to Sakura's house.

She completely forgot about waiting to see if all her friends passed the test, but she was confident that they all would. Had it been a written test, she doubted Naruto would have passed.

* * *

Why was he so worthless? How come he wasn't able to perform even one of the two jutsu that he had to, in order to graduate? Naruto was glad that he was the last one in his class to take the graduation test, that way no one would know that he had failed and needed to go back to the Academy the following school year.

He spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in his apartment for fear that he would see someone from his class. He ignored his stomach as it growled something fierce. He only had to wait another hour before going outside; it would be dark enough that no one would stop him in the streets.

His goal of becoming Hokage so people would finally recognize him was drifting further away, but he still held on to it. It just may take a bit longer for him to achieve his goal than he originally planned, that's all.

He finally stepped foot outside his apartment when the sun was no longer visible and he headed straight for the forest and training grounds. The cool night air always helped clear his mind.

Perhaps there was a way he could still graduate, maybe he could learn the two jutsu overnight and show Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei tomorrow and everything would be fine. He could always make an excuse that he wasn't feeling great during the graduation exam, maybe both his teachers would buy it.

He remembered his teachers' expressions when he had failed both the transformation and clone jutsu; Iruka had seemed sad and disappointed and Mizuki seemed like he still believed in him.

He made up his mind. He wouldn't disappoint his teachers again, since they had both become supportive of him over the last few years despite his pranks on them.

An unusually strong gust of wind hit him from the side and he was pushed a few steps back. He turned towards the direction the wind came from only to see a big scroll on the ground. Curiosity took over and he surveyed the partly unrolled scroll.

He unfurled it further and sat down to read. It looked like the scroll detailed some jutsu, and he nearly had a heart attack when he saw the words _kage bunshin_. A shadow clone jutsu. How many different clone jutsu were there exactly and how could they be different?

With a loud groan, Naruto began to read the hand signs that were needed and was confused when there was only one. The scroll looked very important and he assumed that there would be amazing and complicated jutsu in there. Sometimes he liked being proved wrong when it made life simpler.

The scroll detailed how to channel chakra to perform the shadow clone jutsu but it was difficult for him to understand. If he could learn this new clone jutsu and show Iruka and Mizuki, maybe he could graduate with his friends!

He spent a good handful of minutes practicing the shadow clone jutsu until he heard someone land on a branch above him.

"Naruto, how nice of you to find my scroll."

He looked up to see a battered Mizuki standing high above him.

"Mizuki-sensei, what happened?!" Naruto exclaimed in worry.

"I got attacked by some idiots, I'm lucky I made it out alive."

Naruto couldn't understand why anyone would want to attack Mizuki, he was such a nice and supportive teacher. Maybe people hated Mizuki for the same reason they hated him; Naruto still hadn't been able to find out why everyone in the village despised him despite asking others. Mizuki had suggested that they could be jealous of him but Naruto couldn't understand why anyone would be jealous of him; he had nothing.

"I'll be needing my scroll, now. Actually, I think you should come with me Naruto, this village doesn't like you." Mizuki said casually.

"What do you mean come with you?"

"I'm leaving the village and going somewhere where they will actually respect me. If you come with me, you could have a much better life where people don't hate you with a passion."

"How can I be Hokage if I don't live here? I'll make sure people respect me and see that I'm not as bad as they think." Naruto resolved.

"They'll always hate you, it won't change, trust me." Mizuki pleaded.

His teacher approached him and gently took the scroll from him and extended his hand. Naruto looked at it for a few seconds, unsure of what he should do.

It had taken him years to find a few friends, and he didn't know how long it would take him to find new ones if he left. He didn't want to leave them behind, but he also didn't want to have to tell them that he had failed the graduation exam.

"Mizuki-sensei! If I learn the shadow clone jutsu, can I graduate?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Graduating won't matter if you come with me. The place I'm going will recognize you as a shinobi even if you can't make the fucking clone jutsu." Mizuki said agitatedly.

Naruto had never heard his teacher swear before and it stunned him. Why was he acting different all of a sudden?

"I can't leave my friends."

"You'll make new and better friends if you just _come with me._ " Mizuko sneered before grabbing Naruto and the scroll and started to run.

Naruto started to panic; this didn't seem like the Mizuki-sensei he had known for the past few years. He tried to fight back but was being held too strongly, but thankfully his hands were close together so he formed the seal to create a shadow clone and channeled as much chakra as he could.

His body felt on fire and he vaguely remembered Iruka teaching them that every jutsu needed a certain amount of chakra and that too much - or was it too little? - could cause damage. He started to panic when they approached the edge of the village and decided to channel everything he could, he _had_ to make this jutsu work.

Just as he saw the wall that surrounded the village, he felt the jutsu work and he saw hundreds of himself around him. He figured that the jutsu needed a lot of chakra because it created so many shadow clones.

Mizuki dropped him after a clone managed to punch his teacher. He turned to face him with anger seething from his every pore. Naruto had never truly felt scared before.

"You stupid brat! Why did you…" Mizuki trailed off as he took in just how many clones surrounded him.

For a brief moment Naruto thought he saw fear flash through Mizuki's eyes before he became angry. Naruto felt frozen in fear and found it very difficult to breathe. He tried gasping for air but the air felt thin, as if he couldn't breathe in even a tenth of what he needed.

"This. This is why people hate you. No one's ever told you this, but I think you should know what makes you a feared and despised monster."

* * *

This was his last mission before getting another team of genin. Another team to fail, yet again. There was no way he wanted to be responsible for kids who couldn't understand the importance of teammates, after all, he had taken his own for granted and learned too late how important they were. He would give anything to be able to see them again, but he knew he would have to wait until he died to join them.

"Kakashi-senpai, we should really get going, we finished the mission four hours ago."

Oh Tenzo. Adorable, sweet, loyal Tenzo. He should know by now that being late was his thing. If Kakashi were to arrive somewhere on time or, God forbid, early, he was pretty sure he would be brought in for questioning. He had spent years cultivating this trait and he wasn't going to destroy his reputation now.

"Just as soon as I finish this chapter." Kakashi drawled out and kept on reading his infamous orange coloured book.

The famous _Icha Icha_ series, written by the legendary toad sage, Jiraya. Kakashi learned that reading the adult novel in public was one way to keep people from disturbing him, so he always walked around the village with his nose in his book.

"That's what you said an hour ago, and I don't think you've turned a single page since then." Tenzo said flatly.

"You can't rush these things, Tenzo. I want to make sure I enjoy every word that was written. Just think of all the work that went into writing this masterpiece, it would be a shame to miss a single thing."

Kakashi was exaggerating quite a bit. The book wasn't a masterpiece, but it _was_ good. When he had first started reading the trilogy after his first teammate died, he had been embarrassed by all the romance and sex scenes, that he had thrown it across the room.

Over time he eventually picked it up again, and struggled to read through the first book. By the time he reached the end, he was invested in the story line and decided to continue reading. He had read all three books so many times that he could almost recite them word for word.

"Senpai… don't make me drag you back, because you know I will."

Kakashi knew not to underestimate Tenzo. The last time he did so, he had been drugged and forcefully dragged back to the Village and forced to be in the hospital. It was definitely not something he wanted to go through ever again.

Kakashi was surprised that it took Tenzo four hours to threaten him though, he had thought it would have taken longer; Tenzo was one of the most patient and nicest man he had ever met.

He stood up with a relaxed ease and stretched out all the kinks in his back from sitting for so long. He turned towards Tenzo and put his book away and smiled at his friend. Though Kakashi always wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face and neck, his friends could tell what he was feeling solely by looking at his eyes - well, his one eye since his forehead protector covered his left eye when not in combat.

He liked missions with Tenzo, he didn't feel the need to fill the comfortable silence with unnecessary chatter. Kakashi could say that Tenzo was definitely his favourite mission partner.

They were approaching the village gates when they both simultaneously felt a spike in chakra. It was late in the evening and no training grounds were open, so the chakra spike was unexpected.

With a nod of his head, Kakashi followed Tenzo towards the spike even though the chakra had since faded; it was better to check it out in case someone was injured. Kakashi's heart stopped when he heard part of the conversation.

"The reason everyone in the village hates you is because you are the nine-tailed demon fox! It was sealed in you when you were born and _you_ are the reason so many people died nearly thirteen years ago. The village thinks you're worthless, but if you come with me, I can make sure you'll be appreciated for what you are."

That was an S-class secret that was not supposed to be discussed ever since the attack on the village nearly thirteen years ago. As a top shinobi of Konoha, Kakashi knew he had to bring in the man for questioning and he moved to do just that, until Tenzo grabbed his arm to stop him.

"It's too late now, he already knows. Maybe it's best we watch what happens next before we bring him to the Hokage."

Begrudgingly, Kakashi waited and watched as the man tried to convince the kid to leave Konoha with him. Kakashi felt sorrow as memories of his sensei flashed through his mind. His sensei had always been there for him, and now Kakashi couldn't bring himself to even look at his sensei's son even if the shinobi was trying to steal him from the village.

Kakashi knew he wasn't the greatest person in the world and that he was selfish; he had been hurt enough for one lifetime so he avoided everything that hurt him emotionally. Physical pain was much easier to deal with.

"When we intervene, I'll bring the man to the Hokage and you take care of the kid." Kakashi stated in a low whisper.

He felt more than saw Tenzo snap his head towards him and he prepared himself to get berated.

"Senpai, he's your sensei's son, you should take care of him. Isn't he supposed to be on your genin team?"

"If he graduated, but I don't see his forehead protector anywhere."

At this, Kakashi frowned. How was it possible that Naruto didn't graduate. If he was anything like either of his parents, school would have been a breeze, especially the easy graduation exam.

He supposed that he _should_ be the one to go see Naruto while Tenzo took care of the shinobi but this was Kakashi's last chance to avoid the kid before he was stuck on his team and he couldn't pass it up. Of course, he doubted that the three kids he was given would pass, they seemed so incohesive to him the few times he had seen them.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tenzo jumped off the tree branch and beelined for the shinobi. Kakashi proceeded to follow and the fight was more difficult than he anticipated. Though the shinobi was a chunin, his fighting skills seems to be far superior than the average chunin, making Kakashi believe the man could have been a jonin.

Unluckily for the chunin, he and Tenzo were both ANBU and it didn't take much time to defeat him. To make sure the chunin didn't willingly end his life, Kakashi knocked the man out cold and quickly carried him to the Hokage.

He knew he shouldn't, but he glanced at Naruto as he was leaving the clearing and the tears he saw, triggered more memories. This time of Rin crying as Obito lay under the rock that crushed him.

Even though it was late in the evening, the Hokage had no issues dealing with a traitor. Kakashi watched as the third Hokage sentenced the chunin to death, following a thorough investigation lead by the head interrogator, Morino Ibiki. Kakashi knew that a swift death would be what the traitor would prefer to being subjected to different torture techniques.

Kakashi bid the Hokage a good night and went back to his apartment. His ninken were all there, none of them were sleeping when he entered through the window. It was his final night of peace before getting his genin team the next day and he intended to enjoy it to its fullest; reading his books while surrounded by his favourite companions.

* * *

It was surreal that his plan actually worked. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes when the Hokage gave him a forehead protector. All he did was plead that he should graduate and showed him that he could create shadow clones - though after practicing with the Hokage's guidance, the fewest number of clones he could create at once was still a staggering 10.

He was too overjoyed to catch the look of relief that the Hokage shared with the wood man that had saved him from Mizuki. He had even spent some time pestering the shinobi to teach him how to create wood out of nothing, but the shinobi refused.

Naruto was still on cloud 9 when he entered his apartment, so he boiled some water and ate his special, expensive ramen that he was saving for his graduation. Morning couldn't come fast enough for him; he wanted to find out who would be on his team.

He hoped he would be on a team with Sakura, but it was very unlikely since only one girl was put in each team and there were fifteen girls in the class. He wasn't capable of calculating the odds, but it seemed impossible for them to be on a team together.

Naruto spent the night thinking of different ways he could keep seeing his friends after they had all gone their separate ways with their teams and realized he didn't know where any of them lived. He made a mental note to talk to them the next day before they were split into teams before falling asleep to dreams of saving princesses and fighting off evil villains.

* * *

She was equal parts excited and scared that morning. Excited that she managed to become a genin and was going to be put on a team where she could grow in abilities and friendship, yet scared that she wouldn't be able to do much because of her leg.

Sure, she was able to jog for about 30 minutes, but even performing the clone or transformation techniques reduced that time by a lot. Thankfully Kotetsu and Izumo had made sure to help her improve her long-ranged skills so she wouldn't have to dodge and use extra chakra to soften the impacts on her leg from being in melee. She still wanted to be able to be in melee, but that was a long term-goal she knew she couldn't rush.

Sakura didn't bother to make a lunch seeing as it wouldn't take an entire day to be assigned to their new genin team, so she was able to sleep for a bit longer. Plus, her family had planned an afternoon outing. She made sure to sleep in the same bed as Takeshi to make sure she didn't get nightmares to ruin her mood for the day. It wouldn't do her any good to be cranky and potentially throw underhanded comments to her jonin sensei on their first day.

The only time she would insult others involuntarily was after several consecutive days of nightmare plagued sleep. Though most times it was aimed towards people who bickered with her - namely Ino - or people who were loud - Kiba, Naruto and Ino - she still thought of insults for everyone and hated that she did. She never wanted to insult Choji, but she would often be screaming in her head for him to stop being so timid - though she knew she was also timid, Sakura never said she wasn't a hypocrite.

She hoped that her nightmares were training her to not freeze up on the battlefield the first time she would encounter a dangerous situation. All she knew was that she would one day be strong enough to kill the tendril monster and the blue-eyed tormentor. They had changed her life for the worse and she wasn't going to let that ruin her life.

"Hey, Forehead!"

Her peaceful walk to the Academy was interrupted by her former best friend, yet Sakura was happy to see Ino. In a way, Sakura was glad to be rivals with Ino; it had motivated both of them to improve in class. For some reason Ino still thought Sakura wanted Sasuke's attention, like most of the girls in their class. Ino refused to believe Sakura just wanted to be friends with Sasuke, so sometimes Sakura would give in and bicker with Ino.

"Pig!" Sakura greeted.

"How jealous will you be when I'm on Sasuke-kun's team?" Ino said so sweetly that Sakura thought she would get cavities.

"That'll only happen in your dreams, you'll be on a team with Shino and Hinata." Sakura retorted.

Ino had been placed in a group with the other two once for a class project and their combined quietness resulted in Ino almost losing her mind. The other two would barely speak or respond to Ino due to her brash nature and Ino didn't like it when others didn't pay attention to her.

"N-no!" Ino stuttered in terror. "At least I'll have a jonin sensei, so it won't be that bad."

"I can just see it now, they would rub off on you and you would become just as quiet as them. No one would notice you anymore." Sakura jabbed at Ino's insecurities. She had learned to dish out insults from Ino and had finally began retaliating to the blonde's verbal dominance in the last year.

"At least I'll always be a better shinobi than you. I _am_ the top kunoichi, after all." Ino bragged.

"It's funny how they have to separate male and female shinobi, they should just treat everyone as equals." Sakura stated. It had been something that she noticed during the spars until Kiba asked to make girls and guys fight each other. Sure, the guys dominated the majority of the spars but Sakura quite enjoyed them.

"It's a known fact that males dominate the shinobi world, but with me in the mix, I can make a change. In fact, I _will_ make a change." Ino exclaimed triumphantly.

"Thanks for your confidence. You know your plan would have a higher chance of succeeding with more girls fighting for the same change, right?"

"I was the top kunoichi, Forehead, I have the most promising career."

"Then I wish you all the luck, Ino." Sakura said with a smile.

Sakura watched as Ino stumbled a few steps and turned to look at her. The surprise in the blonde's eyes was evident at the fact that Sakura had given up so easily. As it turns out, Sakura didn't want to bicker with Ino, she just wanted her friend back.

"We'll be in different teams, maybe we can stop this rivalry and just be friends again." She suggested to her first friend.

"Do you still like Sasuke-kun?"

"Ino, for the millionth time, I've _never_ liked him!" Sakura half-shouted, eye twitching in annoyance.

"My parents always taught me that actions speak louder than words, and I've _seen_ you approach him, just like all the other girls. Nice try, Forehead, you can't fool the top kunoichi like that." Ino said proudly.

Sakura wished she could knock some sense into Ino, but decided it was best that they both showed up to class in one piece. She usually enjoyed anytime she could spend with Ino, but that morning was different; Sakura didn't want any animosity or annoyances to possibly ruin the first day of the next stage in her life.

"I'll race you, Pig."

With that, Sakura took off and ran towards the Academy; it was one way to make sure Ino stopped talking. She knew Ino was slightly faster than her but she was hoping that the element of surprise would be enough to ensure her victory.

When she could see the front door of the Academy, Sakura chanced a look back and saw Ino hot on her heels. In the end they tied as they both ran through the classroom door at the exact same time.

Sakura put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath while Ino gracefully caught her breath while walking towards Sasuke.

"Naruto! Get _out_ of my seat. I'll be on Sasuke-kun's team so this is _my_ spot." Ino yelled.

Naruto had started to sit beside Sasuke since he wanted to make sure that Sakura could not sit beside the Uchiha in case he snapped and attacked her again. She found it adorable how much Naruto seemed to take it so seriously that Sasuke would hurt her.

Sakura sat across the aisle from Naruto, where Kiba was sitting with Meisa and waited impatiently for Iruka and Mizuki to arrive. She ignored all chatter that was going on around her and stared intently at the clock on the wall; they were 5 minutes late.

After another entire minute passed by Iruka walked in looking like he hadn't slept in years, judging by the dark bags under his eyes. It was strange that Mizuki wasn't there since the two teachers had always both been present when there was an important event for her class. Perhaps he just wasn't feeling well. Sakura shrugged it off and looked around at every other kid in class.

Everyone shut up and sat down, eager to find out what team they were on and Sakura could see Ino leaning over the desk with barely contained excitement. Ino would occasionally glance at Sasuke and squeal in hopes that she would be on his team.

She saw Shikamaru sleeping, as usual, and she wondered what would need to happen in order for him to be alert. An alert Shikamaru would surely mean the end of the world.

She glanced at Choji and caught his stare so she smiled and waved at him. She knew he wanted to be on Shikamaru's team and she really, _really_ hoped he would be. The teachers would have had to have been stupid to separate the two.

She looked at Naruto, who just appeared to be happy, holding onto his forehead protector like it was the most sacred thing in the world. He was oblivious to what was happening around him, even when Ino almost hit him in the face with her hand accidentally.

When she glanced at Sasuke, it was difficult to tell if he was nervous or not. He was distant yet sought her attention at times and Sakura didn't know what to do about it.

"Team 7. Uchiha Sasuke, " Iruka announced and Sakura listened immediately. There was a collective gasp and breath holding from the girls in class who all hoped to be put on a team with Sasuke.

"Uzumaki Naruto, " the collective gasp turned into a collective groan.

"Haruno Sakura." The groans turned into cries of indignation and shouts of anger.

Had she not been looking directly at Sasuke, she would have missed his smile when her name was called out. Her view was quickly obstructed by Naruto who stood up on his desk and started dancing for joy. It took Iruka several seconds to get Naruto to sit down again so he could continue with the team assignments.

"Team 8. Inuzuka Kiba,"

Sakura turned towards Kiba and put her hand on his shoulder. She hoped he would be put on a team where he could improve and be happy.

"Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata."

Sakura didn't know much about the two, only that they were both quiet which would be a good contrast to Kiba's loudness.

"Team 10. Nara Shikamaru,"

At Shikamaru's name, Sakura crossed her fingers for Choji to be with him. She didn't know what Choji would be like if he wasn't on his best friend's team. She watched Choji stress eat until Iruka spoke up again.

"Akimichi Choji,"

She heard Choji let out a small cheer and she couldn't help but let out a breath of relief.

"Yamanaka Ino."

Ino let out a very loud groan, expressing her disinterest at being part of the team.

Sakura didn't pay attention to the rest of the teams seeing as all her friends had been put on a team already. Their lives were diverging and she may not see all of them every day but she was fine with that; they would all become better shinobi in their own ways.

After listing off all the teams, Iruka left all the genins in class with a promise that their team sensei would be by shortly to get them. As soon as Iruka left, Sakura decided that it would be best to go see her team, which proved to be a mistake. As soon as she approached them, Ino was there, ready to tell her a piece of her mind.

"That is _so_ unfair! The top kunoichi should have been on a team with the Rookie of the Year. My cousin could have easily been put on a team with Shikamaru and Choji. Forehead, how did _you_ manage to be on a team with Sasuke-kun? Now he'll have both you and Naruto to drag him down. Life is so unfair!" She vented before scoffing and stomping over to her own team.

Sakura tried to not be hurt by Ino's words but it was difficult. She had always valued what Ino thought and tried her best to make her proud. With a defeated sigh, she walked over to sit beside Naruto, who had obviously taken the seat that Ino had just vacated.

"Sakura-chan, we're on the same team!" Naruto beamed at her.

She smiled at both him and Sasuke and relaxed in her seat; any minute now, they would be with their jonin sensei and on their way to becoming stronger.

Three hours after all the genins had left with their sensei, Sakura wondered if their own sensei had forgotten about them. She had purposely not brought a lunch with her, thinking that she would be back home by the early afternoon but she learned a valuable lesson that day; always bring food no matter the situation.

The worst part of waiting for three hours, was watching as Naruto and Sasuke slowly but surely became more annoyed with each other. Naruto insisted on staring at Sasuke whenever the boy made a sound and Sasuke was annoyed that he was constantly interrupted when he wanted to speak to Sakura.

She didn't really know what to do, she could just tell Naruto to stop staring, but she wasn't like Ino, people didn't listen to her. Luckily, or unluckily, their sensei arrived just after the eraser throwing started. Naruto had gotten tired of Sasuke wandering around the classroom and decided to throw an eraser at his rival. Sasuke, being Sasuke, managed to easily dodge out of the way of the eraser, just for their jonin sensei to walk in through the door. And get hit in the face with the eraser.

Sakura stood there gaping at the jonin, mind reeling from the memories when she had first seen him. The same night she was saved by Itachi. And Akio. And _Shisui_. She was inwardly panicking. Flashbacks of that night flashed through her mind and she couldn't say a word. She simply looked on as Naruto scratched the back of his head, Sasuke sighed in exasperation and her new jonin sensei said that he didn't like any of them.

She snapped out of it when Naruto dragged her by the hand and together, they ran to the roof of the Academy. Once there she halted as Naruto ran to sit down beside Sasuke and she slowly crept closer, always wary of the jonin.

She didn't know if he remembered her, or if he had been close to either Akio, Itachi or Shisui since they were on the same team. In all her time with the three and over the past six years, she hadn't seen this jonin even once, so she assumed that they had not been that close.

"Come sit down so we can do introductions." He said sternly and Sakura hurriedly went to sit down beside Naruto.

She didn't watch where she was sitting - she was still staring wide-eyed at the man - and sat down half on Naruto's leg and half on the stairs. She quickly apologized and corrected her position, urging her sensei to continue.

"You, on the right, tell us about yourself." He said, pointing at Sasuke.

"Why don't you start by telling us your name, sensei? That way we can address you better."

"Seems fair, my name is Hatake Kakashi." He said quickly.

"Introduce yourself, like in the academy they ask us what we like and dislike and other stuff." Naruto shouted.

"Only if you pass the test tomorrow. Now, go."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have-"

"What test tomorrow?!" Naruto interrupted.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and saw the early signs of annoyance. Just like his brother, he had developed an eye twitch, except instead of Shisui being the cause, it was Naruto. She gently placed her hand on Naruto's arm in hopes that he would calm down and it somewhat worked.

"It's a surprise." Their sensei smiled, or at least Sakura thought he was smiling; his mask covered too much of his face to accurately tell.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I use to like many things, but not anymore. I used to not dislike anything, but now I dislike most things and people. My hobbies have changed from wanting to have fun and play to wanting to train and get stronger. My dream is to avenge my clan the only way I know how and that is to kill a certain person." Sasuke explained without being specific about anything.

She had the urge to hug Sasuke since she remembered how he was before the massacre and how much he's changed. His outlook on life seemed so bleak and lonely.

"Great! Now blonde one, your turn." Kakashi faked his enthusiasm.

"Alright! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, making people happy and having friends. I dislike how long it takes for water to boil for my ramen and people who are mean to others. My hobbies are pranking people and getting stronger and my dream is to become Hokage so everyone will finally respect me!" Naruto exclaimed.

She missed how after almost every category, he glanced at her because she knew she was next - it didn't take a genius to figure that much out - and she didn't know what to say.

"Big dreams for someone so small. Pinky, you're last." Kakashi stated.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like having friends. I dislike bullies and people who are mean or condescending. My hobbies are spending time with my family and friends. My dream is to keep my friends and family safe and not have anyone else die." She started off loud then got quieter as she neared the end. Almost too quiet for others to hear, but Naruto and Sasuke were nearby and Kakashi was just that good.

"Now that that's over, meet me at Training ground 3 tomorrow morning at sunrise. I'll be giving you your test to become a genin. If you fail, you'll be sent back to the Academy. This will be an intense test so it's best you don't eat beforehand, just to make sure you don't throw up." Her sensei explained then suddenly disappeared. Just like Shisui and Itachi could do.

"What…" Sakura trailed off.

"We're already genins, aren't we?" Sasuke asked.

"We worked hard to get our forehead protector, there's no way he can fail all three of us and take them back, right?" Naruto panicked.

Sakura sat in silence, her mind going through everything that anyone could have said about failing a test given by their jonin-sensei yet couldn't remember anything.

"Sakura-chan, did you want to go get ramen with me?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Sorry Naruto, my family wants to spend some time with me. Don't your parents want to celebrate your promotion?" She turned to face Naruto apologetically.

"Sakura, Naruto doesn't-"

Naruto shoved his hand over Sasuke's mouth to shut him up, but Sakura wasn't sure why. The two had never seemed to speak to each other before so there was no reason Sasuke would know something about Naruto that she didn't so she shrugged it off as Naruto being weird.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow for training!" Sakura said then promptly left to go home.


End file.
